My Child
by Porcuswine
Summary: A dead nanny, an investigation, an ice cream date with Aunt Abby; the day started out normal. But when a revenge seeking enemy kidnaps Tony and Ziva's daughter, their sanity, a little girl's life, and a family's well being is left hanging in the balance.
1. Chapter 1

_Summary: Slightly AU. Jenny never died, Ziva never went to Somalia. She is married to Tony for about two years and they have a four-year-old daughter. Contains some Jibbs, a lot of Tiva and quite possibly a case linked to a member of the team._

_Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS or the characters, but I do own this story, the idea and Ziva and Tony's daughter. I created her so she's mine :D  
_

* * *

WHACK!

Special Agent Tony DiNozzo jumped as his boss hit him on the back of his head with a newspaper. Tony cursed in his mind for letting himself fall asleep at work.

"Get to work, DiNozzo," Gibbs growled. He threw the newspaper on his desk, shot one furious look at Ziva's empty one and almost ran up the catwalk.

Tony watched him go, his mouth slightly open. What the hell was wrong with Gibbs this morning?

He glanced at his fellow coworker, who's expression matched Tony's.

"Gibbs is in a bad mood today," McGee commented, glancing up the stairs when they both heard a loud thump which marked the moment when Gibbs entered Jenny's office, again terribly mistreating her door. He raised an eyebrow. "In a really bad mood."

"Yeah..." said Tony absentmindedly, rubbing the back of his head. "Ow. That one hurt."

"Poor Director," McGee noted. "I wouldn't want to be anywhere near Gibbs right now." He quickly look over his shoulder, as if expecting Gibbs to be sneaking somewhere behind his back, eager to smack him.

Tony chuckled. "He's fast, but not that fast, McGee."

McGee gave Tony a disbelieving look. He believed Gibbs would be just as fast and even faster if need be.

Tony interrupted his thoughts. "And Jenny can handle Gibbs. I'm more interested in what Gibbs will do when Ziva finally gets here."

McGee's brow furrowed. "By the way, why isn't she here?"

Tony sighed. "Maggie didn't show up this morning?"

"Your nanny?"

Tony nodded. "Yeah. And I feel really sorry for her when she finally decides to show up."

McGee looked at Tony quizzically, a question clear in his eyes, but Tony didn't see it. He was glancing out the window, his face thoughtful. When he finally looked back to McGee, the younger agent was still staring at him.

"Ziva looked like she would kill her," he informed McGee.

McGee made a silent "Oh," and went back to his job.

They were silent for about five minutes, which was unusual for Tony.

He glanced towards Jenny's office and saw the door opening just the moment he turned his eyes there. Gibbs stepped out, looking even more furious than before, if that was possible.

"Brace yourself, Probie," he warned McGee. "The bossman's coming."

McGee flinched like someone had just yelled in his ear. He glanced at approaching Gibbs with fearful eyes.

Gibbs walked into the middle of the bullpen and looked around. His eyes focused on Tony, who gulped and shot McGee a panicky look.

Gibbs stepped in front of Tony's desk and glared at his agent.

"DiNozzo," he started.

Tony stared back. "Yeah, boss?"

"Where the hell is your wife?" he growled.

Tony glanced at McGee again.

Gibbs noticed. "McGee isn't supposed to know where she is, you are!"

Tony looked back at Gibbs, stammering a little as he said his next words. "Well, she's, um..."

"Last time I checked, Ziva wasn't an "um". Whatever that is."

_Gibbs is in a really, really, really freakin' bad mood, _Tony thought. But aloud he said: "She'll be a little late today."

Gibbs glared a little more. "A little late?"

Tony nodded. Gibbs was starting to freak him out and he silently prayed for that damn nanny to show up already, so Ziva could get to work and save him from Gibbs. Unless she really killed that poor nanny and was now getting rid of the body.

"It's 10.00! It's not a little late! It's a lot late!"

Tony gulped again.

Then Gibbs turned to McGee. The Probie looked scared already. "Go get coffee."

McGee sighed with relief. "On it, boss." He grabbed his coat and practically ran out of the bullpen.

He pressed the button and waited for the elevator to arrive. It arrived and the metal doors opened with a ding, revealing the person inside. Or more precisely, two persons. They exited the elevator.

"Gibbs is really mad," McGee whispered to Ziva, then got into the elevator, being a little happy and a little sad at the same time. Happy because he could get out of there and away from Gibbs. Sad because he would not see Gibbs' reaction to Ziva coming to work and being almost four hours late.

* * *

_Please review and tell me what you think of it and what you think should happen. Chapter 2 will be up soon. Oh, and please also give suggestions for Tony and Ziva's daughter's name. I'll put up the next chapter as soon as I get the name for her :)  
_


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Really big thanks to all those who have reviewed so far. There was a little problem with the alerts I received to my email and I got really confused as to who I had replied and who not. I'm sorry if I didn't reply to your review or if I replied twice._

_A/N2: I decided to make their daughter two years older, so she is now four. It just fits better with my plans this way.  
_

* * *

Ziva waited for the elevator doors to open. When they did, she saw McGee standing there, waiting for the little metal box.

"Gibbs is really mad," he whispered to her while passing.

That didn't surprise her. She knew he'd be mad. After all, she _was_ almost four hours late.

Then she heard her daughter's squeal. "Uncle Gibbs!" She ran to him and he picked her up, hugging her. "Hey, Rach," he greeted her. Then he put her down. "Go to your father for a little while."

Ziva watched her little girl running to Tony, her dark curls bouncing. The love in her heart was almost too strong to bear. Love for both of them, both little Rachel and Tony.

But she quickly returned to reality when she saw that Gibbs did not look like he was going to hug her. He glared at her and started towards the elevator, motioning for her to follow.

She did. Once back inside the little metal box, Gibbs pressed the emergency button and turned to her.

Ziva prepared herself for the wrath of Gibbs, but it didn't come. Instead he looked at her with worry. "Is everything okay, Ziva?" he asked her caringly.

Ziva was stunned. That was not like Gibbs. She had been expecting for him to yell at her and give her a Gibbs-slap, but there he was, acting like she had just gotten out of a hospital, not being late for work.

"Yes, everything is okay."

"The hell it is." That was a bit more like Gibbs. "Both you and Tony look like you've been up whole night, Tony is sleeping on his desk, you are late for four hours, when you finally show up you bring your child with you and to the top of it all, Tony doesn't even tell me where the hell you are!"

That was an awful lot of talking for Gibbs.

Ziva narrowed her eyes with suspicion. "He did not tell you where I was?"

"If he did, I wouldn't be asking."

"He will regret that," she threatened, speaking to herself.

Gibbs still stared at her. She stared back.

"Where were you?" he demanded.

"Rachel kept us up half the night and our nanny did not show up today." She summarized it all into one sentence. "The next time I see her..." she started, but Gibbs cut her off.

"Easy, Ziva. The next time you see her, you'll ask why she didn't come."

Ziva glowered.

"Come on. Let's go and wait for McGee and the coffee."

They returned to the bullpen, retrieving look full of questions from Tony.

"Something you want to tell me, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked with a half-smile. His bad mood seemed to have disappeared for a while.

Tony looked at Gibbs, completely clueless. Ziva went to stand next to Gibbs, pointing at Tony accusingly.

"You promised."

Tony still didn't understand. "What did I pro-," and then it clicked. "Oh. That."

"Yes, that. Why did you not tell him?" she demanded her husband.

Tony held up his hands in defense. "I was going to, I was already telling him but…" His excuse faded under Ziva's glare. His fear of Gibbs' bad mood seemed like nothing now. Ziva was the only one who could really scare him.

The worst thing Gibbs could do to him was to fire him. Or in a worst case scenario kill him.

Ziva could leave him. He couldn't bear that thought.

Suddenly she felt a little hand touching hers. "Mommy, what's wrong?"' Rachel asked, looking a little concerned.

Ziva looked down at her daughter and smiled. "Nothing is wrong, baby." She gently stroke Rach's hair, the exact copy of hers and pushed her softly towards Gibbs. "Go play a little with Uncle Gibbs. Mommy needs to work."

Then she went to her desk, glaring daggers at Tony. He grew more and more uncomfortable. At last he gave up and left for men's room, although he was quite sure Ziva would follow him.

He was right. About a minute after Tony had left, Ziva stood up and headed for men's room too. This was their private conference room, just as the elevator was for Gibbs.

She pushed the door open quietly as always, locking it after her. Tony was standing by the sinks, staring at his reflection in the mirror.

"Ziva, I…" he started, but Ziva stopped him.

"I know."

Tony still felt the need to justify himself. "He was just in such a freakin' bad mood the whole freakin' morning."

Ziva's chocolate brown eyes narrowed again and Tony realized his mistake. "Okay. I'm guilty. I should've told him."

Ziva's features softened. At least he had the courage to acknowledge his mistake.

"Apology accepted," she told him, and leaned closer to his face. Tony understood and took the lead. As their lips met, all of their troubles and problems were forgotten for at least a while.

When they finally broke apart, they left the men's room hand in hand. One man was already waiting behind the door.

* * *

_Please review and share your opinion on the story. What do you like? What don't you like? What should I do differently? Let me know :)  
_


	3. Chapter 3

_Big big thanks to everyone for reviews, alerts and fav stories! Keep 'em coming :)  
_

* * *

They went back to the bullpen, letting go of each other's hands just before they became visible from there. Gibbs had made it very clear that they could only break rule #12 if they didn't break it at work. Once they had forgotten to lock the door to the men's room and Gibbs had caught them kissing there. Neither of them wanted to experience it again.

They both went to their desks, ignoring the suspicious glare they retrieved from Gibbs.

Ziva glanced at Rachel, who was sitting on Gibbs' desk, watching him.

"Uncle Gibbs, why were you in a bad mood?" she asked him, curious like children always are.

Gibbs thought for a while, considering what he should tell her. That he just got into bad mood when an agent of his was almost four hours late with no obvious reason? That the coffee shop was completely out of coffee when he got there?

"Didn't have coffee this morning," he finally said.

Tony and Ziva both looked at him with shock. As far as they knew, Gibbs never had a day without at least one cup of coffee. But Rachel knew nothing of Gibbs' addiction.

"Why do you drink coffee?"

Gibbs chuckled and was saved from answering by Abby.

"Rachel!" she squealed, running to the child like she were a child herself, and hugging her tightly. "Why don't you bring her here more often?" she asked Ziva, as if that was a huge crime.

"It is not the right place for her," she explained. She didn't want her daughter to be in the middle of all this murder-stuff.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Gibbs' cell phone.

He took it out of his pocket. "Yeah, Gibbs."

He listened for a while. "Where?"

He listened a bit more. Tony and Ziva exchanged glances. It had been almost a week since their last case, which had been the simplest ever.

"Okay, we'll be right there." Gibbs hung up without another word, as always.

"A case?" Tony asked eagerly, dying to get out of there.

Gibbs grabbed his badge and gun from his drawer.

Tony's face grew more alive. "Finally."

Gibbs threw the keys to Ziva. "You're driving. Anacostia Park."

Ziva caught the keys skillfully, but didn't move. Tony grabbed his bag and almost ran to the elevator.

"Today, Ziva," Gibbs called while passing her.

Ziva hesitated for only a second. "Would you look after her?" she asked Abby, who was still standing by Gibbs' desk, one hand on Rachel's shoulder.

She acted offended, then smiled brightly. "Of course I will."

Ziva smiled as a reply, kissed Rachel goodbye and ran after Gibbs and Tony. The elevator doors were just closing, but she managed to slip through.

"Um, what about McGee, boss? He's not back yet," Tony asked.

Gibbs didn't look at him, he was staring at the door, seemingly deeply in thought. "Call him," he ordered.

"Sure thing."

When the little metal box stopped, the doors opened and they almost ran into McGee, who was waiting there for the elevator, a tray with four coffees in his hand. He managed to keep it balanced, while dodging Gibbs in a hurry.

"Couldn't wait for your coffee, boss?" he joked, offering them all a coffee.

Gibbs said nothing, took his coffee and rushed out.

"Sorry, boss," he yelled after him. "Still in a bad mood?" he asked Tony.

Tony took a coffee too and headed out. "He didn't have his morning coffee today," he said as an explanation.

"Oh." McGee said like that would explain everything, not only Gibbs' bad mood.

They reached the car and found Gibbs sitting in the driver's seat, his left hand reached out of the window, waiting for keys. Ziva dropped them into his hand, a little surprised as to why Gibbs changed his mind so quickly.

"Thought you would let me drive," she noted, getting into the back seat, while Tony took the front one.

Gibbs started the engine, taking a big sip from his coffee. Coffee was for Gibbs what gasoline was for their car. "Can't drive without having coffee," he explained. Then he raised his cup. "Now I have one."

Ziva nodded.

"McGee, call Ducky, tell him to meet us there."


	4. Chapter 4

_Hi again! I really apologize for the long wait. I was busy with... Well, I don't really have an excuse for not updating, but I hope you can forgive me._

_So, on to the chapter.  
_

* * *

When the team arrived at the crime scene, the police tape was already around it.

They approached the group of local LEOs, who had gathered around something what appeared to be the body. She was laying face-down on the ground. The woman's long light brown hair was loose and covered in dirt and blood.

"Okay," Gibbs told his team, "Tony, start bagging and tagging. McGee, photos. Ziva, come with me."

Tony and McGee left to fulfill their tasks.

Gibbs approached the man who appeared to be in lead there and showed his badge.

The man nodded. "Good morning Agent Gibbs," he greeted, then introduced himself. "I'm Mike Ferris, Metro Police."

"Who reported her?"

Ferris pointed out a woman standing by the police tape.

"Ziva," he turned to her. "Go take her statement."

"Did anybody move the body?" Gibbs asked when Ziva had left, since Ducky was not yet there. He sincerely hoped no one had done it, because even though there was no cliff anywhere in sight, Ducky would surely find some other place to throw somebody down.

Ferris shook his head. "No, she was like that when we found her. We only took her ID from her pocket." He handed it to Gibbs and started to leave.

"Hey," Gibbs called after him. "Why'd you call us?"

Ferris turned around to look at Gibbs. "One of my men knew that name," he said sadly. "Said her husband is a Marine."

Gibbs turned around to see Ducky, who was followed closely by Palmer.

"Ah, Jethro," he greeted. "You're already here. We had trouble parking the van," he explained, gesturing towards the vehicle in question, which was parked on the nearby road. "Again," he added.

Palmer looked a bit guilty. Gibbs smiled.

"I never did understand why Anacostia Park has to have so many sections," Ducky complained. "Why can't they just name all the sections differently and make them different parks?"

"Maybe they ran out of names, Doctor," Palmer suggested.

Ducky sighed. "You wouldn't believe, Mr. Palmer, how creative people can be when they need a name for something they are really interested of."

Palmer smiled. "Like magazines?" he asked.

Ducky looked at him for a few seconds, decided not to comment and instead continued his previous story. "Yes, like magazines. Or when it comes to naming their children. But they seem to be completely run out of imagination when it comes to naming parks." Then he changed the subject. "So, where is the poor deceased?"

Gibbs led him to the body. Ducky squatted down to examine her. McGee was standing next to them to take photos.

"But," he started again, while carefully turning over the body. The woman's face was so beaten it was barely recognizable. The blood stains on her clothes suggested she was battered all over the body. "I once performed an autopsy on a man, who was a John Doe for very long time."

Ducky pushed in the liver probe. "When we finally found out his name, it turned out to be John Toe."

Gibbs and McGee chuckled.

"Can you imagine that?" Ducky asked them all, not someone in particular. "No creativity."

"Well, maybe his parents' last name was Toe," Palmer suggested, not getting the point.

Ducky sighed again. "It was, Mr. Palmer, but who in their right mind would name their child John when their last name was Toe?"

Palmer didn't answer. Gibbs looked like he was holding back laughter.

"Oh dear," Ducky sighed compassionately, looking at the dead woman. "What have they done to you?"

"Got anything useful, Ziva?" Gibbs asked when she returned.

"The same they always say," she replied. ""I saw a body and called the police." Not very useful."

Then she turned her eyes on the body…

…and froze.

Gibbs immediately noticed the change in her posture. "You okay?" he asked, a little concerned.

Ziva worked hard to keep her face calm as she stared at the woman in horror. Even though she managed to keep those emotions off her features, Gibbs could see the struggle in her eyes to keep her emotions hidden as always.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Gibbs asked again when he received no response from Ziva. For a fraction of a second he saw pain in her eyes, which quickly disappeared.

She turned to look at him. "That's Maggie," she said, looking back at the woman. "Rachel's nanny."

* * *

_So, that's the new chapter. Someone said I needed to develop this more. I will. It'll just take a little time, since I want to make it a story with as many chapters as I can. But don't worry, the big things are coming soon. They actually started already with this chapter :)_


	5. Chapter 5

_Okay, I know I haven't updated for quite a long time, but I just had no ideas for this story and so I worked on another one. No, that's not right, I _had _ideas, I just couldn't figure out how to put them into the story. I'll try to update faster next time, but unfortunately I can't promise anything.  
_

* * *

Gibbs gestured for Ziva to follow him and led her away from the body.

"I am fine, Gibbs," she assured him when he said nothing. He just looked at her, his eyes implying he was worried.

He shook his head. "No, you're not."

"Yes, I am," she insisted, getting a little angry at Gibbs. Why was she led away like a child? Why didn't Gibbs let her do her job?

"You knew her. From what I hear she was your friend."

"Yes," she almost hissed. "I knew Ari too. She being my friend does not change anything."

Gibbs was stunned. He wouldn't have expected her to bring that up now. "Ziva," he started, "you're not the same as five years ago."

When she answered her voice was cold. "What is different then?"

That surprised Gibbs. "I saw your reaction when you saw her there." He pointed at the body Ducky was currently examining. "I saw your eyes."

"And what did you saw there?" she asked calmly, face perfectly composed.

Gibbs looked at her for just a moment. "Pain."

Ziva pondered what to say. "She was Rachel's nanny," she finally said.

Gibbs didn't say a word.

"She likes her. How am I going to tell a four-year-old that her good friend is never coming back?"

Gibbs still didn't say anything. Ziva looked at him expectantly.

"You saying _you_ don't care about her? Rach does, but you don't?" he finally asked.

"She is just another person whom I know who has died," she told Gibbs. "I have known a lot of people who are dead now. This is no different."

Gibbs finally looked like she'd convinced him, so he led her back to the body. McGee met her eyes quizzically, his eyes asking "What was that about?"

Ziva answered with a dangerous glare, which technically said "Say anything and die."

McGee quickly looked away.

"Whoa."

They all turned to look at the owner of the voice. They saw Tony staring at Maggie, surprise written all over his face.

"You okay, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked, making no move to lead Tony away from there, which infuriated Ziva. Did Gibbs consider her weak now? She might be a mother now, but her main essence was still the same.

"Yeah…" Tony said, "that's um… that's our nanny, boss."

"I know, DiNozzo," he said, glancing at Ziva.

"What?" she demanded when they all looked at her with weird faces.

They looked back to the body.

"Guess now we know why she didn't show this morning," Tony said, his face somewhat sad. "Did you kill her, Ziva?" he suddenly asked her with a half-smile. "You had that face in the morning like you were gonna murder her if she showed up."

Before Ziva could defend herself, they heard Ducky chuckle.

"This poor girl died almost two days ago. It makes me wonder why no one saw her before."

"Maybe she was brought here," McGee suggested.

"Yes, maybe," Ducky replied. "I can tell you the cause of death after I've done the autopsy."

"Hey, boss," Tony said as Gibbs walked into the bullpen, this time without a coffee. He turned to look at his Senior Agent, raising his eyebrow at him as a notification for him to say whatever he was going to.

"Maggie's husband is here," Tony exclaimed, pointing to the catwalk. "He's up in the conference room."

McGee put the husband's data up on the plasma for Gibbs to see.

"Navy Lieutenant Frank Mortensen," he informed Gibbs.

When he said nothing else Gibbs turned to him with slight annoyance. "You gonna continue, McGee?"

McGee looked back at the screen, feeling a little uncomfortable. "Actually, there's not much to continue with. He's been in the US for his whole life, hasn't gotten any awards or medals. Lives his life quietly."

"Very quietly, boss," Tony continued. "He's never done anything to gain a criminal record. Hell, the man hasn't even gotten a ticket, can you imagine that."

Gibbs gave Tony a half-smile. "Do _you _have a criminal record, DiNozzo?" he asked with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

Tony looked sheepish. "Well, we broke into that police yard with McGee, remember?"

Gibbs chuckled. "Oh, yeah, I remember, DiNozzo." He headed up the stairs.

Gibbs entered the conference room and found a man standing by the window, his hands in his pockets.

"Special Agent Gibbs," he introduced himself. The man turned around.

"Lieutenant Frank Mortensen, sir." They shook hands and Gibbs gestured for him to sit down.

"When did you last see your wife?" Gibbs asked him.

"Maggie?" he asked. Gibbs nodded. "Friday, when she came back from work," he answered, looking a little confused.

Gibbs wrote it down into a little pad.

"Is something happened to my wife, Agent Gibbs?" the Lieutenant asked.

Gibbs looked down, then straight into his eyes. "She was found dead this morning. I'm very sorry."

The man put his hand over his mouth. "Oh my God," he breathed, staring at the table, his eyes glazed over.

"Did she have any enemies?" Gibbs asked him quietly when he seemed to have pulled himself together enough.

"Maggie was such a nice woman," he replied, shaking his head sadly. "Everybody liked her."

Gibbs nodded. That was what people often said about their loved ones.

"Why didn't you report her missing?"

The husband shrugged. "She said she was going to her parents' place for the weekend. I didn't consider her missing."

Gibbs nodded again. "Why didn't you go with her?"

He looked at Gibbs incredulously. "Are you kidding me? The last time I went with her her mother threw me out. Literally."

Gibbs chuckled. "What'd you do?"

The Lieutenant looked a little offended by Gibbs' amusement. "I accidentally dropped a vase that had belonged to her grandmother. Not Maggie's grandmother, but Maggie's mother's grandmother."

"Yeah, that tends to piss them off."

He nodded in agreement. "Yeah, big time."

They were silent for a while.

"Lieutenant," Gibbs said after a moment. "I must ask, did you know your wife worked as a babysitter for one of my agent?" Gibbs said "one of my agent" on purpose. He didn't want that man to know he had a married couple in his team.

Lieutenant Mortensen shook his head. "I knew she worked as a babysitter, but for your agent? No, I didn't know that." He was thoughtful for a while, then seemed to decide that he could trust Gibbs.

"Maggie couldn't have children of her own," he explained. "So she looked after that little girl every day. She loved her like she were her own child."

Gibbs wrote this down.

"We considered adopting," he went on. "I guess now it doesn't matter anymore."

Gibbs turned his eyes on the husband. He looked about ready to cry. Gibbs stood up and headed for the door. "I'll have someone escort you out," he told him. He paused for a second, then went on. "I'm very sorry for your loss. I know what you're feeling." With those words he stepped out and closed the door after him.

* * *

_Okay, this is turning into too much of a casefic, but it was never my intention to make it one. This case-talk is just a space-filler, it will get more family-centric soon. There will also be some Tiva romance. I sincerely hope you can wait that long._

_I love reviews like Abby loves Caf-POW..._


	6. Chapter 6

_I know. I know I haven't updated and I'm so so sorry for it. At some point I just forgot about this story. But now I'm writing again and I really hope the next update will come much faster. The school will end tomorrow and then I'll have plenty of time to write.  
_

* * *

In the evening

It was already dark behind the windows of NCIS Headquarters, but in a certain bullpen the lights were still on. McGee had gone home already, Gibbs was somewhere in the building and Tony and Ziva were gathering their things.

Actually Tony had a pretty good idea of where Gibbs might've been, but he was smart enough to not voice it out loud. He had started wondering a long time ago. Wondering why Gibbs always disappeared mysteriously in the evenings and why Jenny always left so late. He had his own theory about where they might be and what they might do, but he was far too smart to not tell anyone. Gibbs would smack him silly if he'd heard his thoughts.

They took their things and headed for the elevator, but went much lower with it than usually. The doors opened with a ding to the familiar corridor which led to Abby's lab. They both could hear excited squealing, which drifted to the couple through the open door. They smiled as they recognized their daughter's voice.

They stepped in and smiled fondly at the sight. Rachel was sitting on Abby's processing table and beside her stood Abby herself. The goth was currently adding something blue to something red, and then, ignoring completely the laws of mixing colors, the substance started bubbling and turned green.

Rachel laughed and clapped her hands with excitement. Abby grinned widely and turned to look at Tony and Ziva. They were grinning too.

"Cool, huh?" Abby asked them, causing Rachel, who hadn't noticed her parents coming, turn around. She smiled widely at them, showing her little white teeth. Tony picked her up from the table, placing a soft kiss on top of her head.

Tony and Ziva nodded. "Thank you for looking after her," Ziva said.

Abby's grin widened even more, if that was even possible. "It was such fun," she exclaimed. "Do you know that she knows the entire periodic table by heart?"

Tony and Ziva exchanged horrified glances, then looked down at Rachel. Abby laughed.

"Just joking," she assured the startled parents, "but think of how cool it would be. She would be ahead of everyone in school."

They all laughed a little. Rach was playing with the collar of Tony's shirt.

"When she is a little older, Abby," Ziva suggested.

"At least we know where to bring her when she'll have trouble with her chemistry classes," Tony added.

Abby's eyes widened like Tony had just offended her. "That," she told him, "will not be necessary. I will teach her chemistry before the class, so that she can be the smartest one in class."

Tony laughed. "Abby, she's four. She doesn't need to know chemistry."

"Well, not yet," Abby said with a wicked smile, turning her eyes back to Rachel, who was content in Tony's arms. "Would you like to see more experiments?" she asked her.

Rachel clapped her hands again with excitement, squealing enthusiastically. Abby chuckled. "See?" she turned to Tony and Ziva, a triumphant smirk on her face. "She likes it."

"Tomorrow, Abby," Ziva assured her. "It is late, Rachel needs to sleep."

Abby's smile dropped just a little. "Okay," she agreed, kissing Rachel goodbye. "Good night, Rach."

"Good night, auntie Abby," the girl replied cutely, reaching out to play with Abby's hair. She laughed and gently saved her hair from Rachel's small hands.

Tony and Ziva turned to leave, but Abby stopped them. "Wait," she exclaimed. "I'll come with you." She ran to the back of her lab as fast as humanly possible on such high platforms. Five seconds later she was back with her jacket and bag.

They all went to the elevator. Abby pressed the correct button and the metal doors shut smoothly. They rode upwards and soon the doors opened again. They exited the building and headed towards the parking lot. They parted with goodbyes and went to their cars. Abby climbed into her car and Tony, Ziva and Rachel into Ziva's Mini.

* * *

_Please review. Also, tell me where do you think that story will go. I have the basic idea, but any additional ideas are always welcome._


	7. Chapter 7

_Sorry again for not updating. I know I said I would, but... well, let's say I can be really lazy sometimes. But I have the next chapter almost finished and the one after that in my notebook, so no worries :)  
_

* * *

"You know, I could get used to this," Tony mused in a contented tone. It was very late in the evening. Night, even. Rachel was sleeping, so Tony and Ziva used the little time they had for being alone as well as they could.

Ziva shifted herself a little beside him so that she could look at his face and laughed. His expression was dreamy.

"Are you telling me you are not yet used to that?" Ziva asked incredulously, placing a small kiss on the corner of his mouth.

Tony reached out and gently traced down her arm with one finger. When he reached her fingers he picked up her hand and softly kissed her fingertip. "You're very unpredictable."

She propped her head up on one elbow. "I will take that as a compliment," she said, gazing directly into his eyes.

He stared back, letting himself get lost the chocolate brown of her eyes. "It was a compliment," he replied.

She smiled at his words and leaned in to kiss him. When her lips were about an inch from his, she suddenly stopped. Tony looked at her, his expression puzzled. "What's wrong?"

"What am I feeling there?" she asked playfully, arching an eyebrow at him.

"It was my knee," he replied, a small laugh audible in his voice. She chuckled. His use of that old joke brought up old memories.

*Flashback*

That night almost five years ago, in that hotel room, had been the first time they had had sex. They both knew it was wrong, but neither of them could resist.

A month later Ziva stood alone in her bathroom. Her period had been almost three weeks late and she had gotten suspicious. She had stared at the pregnancy test for a long time, not wanting to accept the truth. How could they have been so careless and not use protection?

Her initial reaction was resentment. She was not ready for a child. Not yet. She wanted to do an abortion and forget it ever happened.

She had made an appointment in a clinic, had been ready to give up her baby.

But when she went to work the next day, she started to doubt. She had watched Tony and accepted her feelings towards him. The feelings she had tried for a month to deny they existed.

She had made another decision. To keep the baby. Never once after making the decision she had wanted to change it. She had never regretted making it.

She hadn't told Tony right away. But when she finally did, he was shocked, but willing to do what was right and expected of him in a situation like that. It was as much his fault as it was Ziva's. Maybe even more his than Ziva's. He was the one who first had trouble resisting his urges.

The hardest part had been telling Gibbs. But he had been surprisingly understanding. He had agreed on them having a baby and getting married as long as they kept it out of the office.

*End of flashback*

The next day. Abby's lab.

"I want ice-cream." Rachel's voice was quiet, but in the silence of Abby's lab it sounded everything but quiet.

The Goth jumped on her chair, startled. She was sitting in front of her computer, completely engrossed in making a screensaver. Rachel was sitting beside her, playing with Bert. She was tying strings of various colors onto various parts of the stuffed hippo. Bert was now not far from looking like a Christmas tree. A star to the top and he would've been complete.

Abby turned to look at the girl. "I don't have any," she said, her voice and face apologetic. Rachel's face dropped.

"But we could go buy some," Abby suggested. At the moment she had no work to do. They had no new leads as to who might've killed Maggie.

Rach smiled brightly, showing her little teeth.

Abby jumped off her chair and lifted Rachel down as well.

"Just wait a sec, okay? I'll go get my things."

She rushed to the back of the lab and took her bag and her and Rachel's jackets.

* * *

_Enjoy the happy parts while they last..._


	8. Chapter 8

_So, here's your new update. At least now you can't say it took me long to update :)  
_

* * *

"So, what kind of ice-cream do you want?" Abby asked the little girl beside her. They were standing in the ice-cream section.

"Chocolate," Rachel said immediately. It was her absolute favorite.

Abby picked out a chocolate ice-cream and handed it to Rach. "Hold it carefully," she told her. "And don't eat it before we've paid for it," she added when Rachel started opening the red and silver wrapping. The little girl made a pouting face, but left the wrapping alone. Abby chose an interesting-looking ice-cream for herself. It was with maple syrup and walnuts. They went to the checkout and Abby paid for both ice-creams.

They unwrapped their ice-creams once they were out of the shop and started walking slowly back to Abby's car a block away.

"Abby?" Rachel suddenly asked.

The Goth in question turned to look down on her. "Yup?"

Rach took a bite from her ice-cream before answering. "Why do you wear those weird clothes?"

Abby laughed. She knew better than to be offended by her words. "Well," she started, continuing the destruction of her ice-cream, which was disappearing fast. "I have to wear something, right. Or would you prefer me running around in my underwear?" she asked, a laugh audible in her voice. Rach was too young to use the word "naked".

The child laughed. "But why don't you wear normal clothes like everyone else do?" she asked.

"Normal is a setting in a computer," Abby stated with an amused smile. "And I like these clothes. They're different from everyone else's. That's what I like about them. They're not supposed to be normal or usual."

"Okay," Rachel said, attacking her ice-cream with new force. Abby finished up hers after a while, shoving the end of it into her mouth.

It was cold. And way too big for her mouth. She mumbled something unintelligible that could've been swear words, but when said with as much incomprehensibility as she did, it might as well have been a marriage proposal. She tried to swallow it with not much luck.

Abby was busy with getting her mouth free of that cold stuff, therefore she didn't notice a van driving up to them and stopping just beside them.

"Don't move," a male voice suddenly said. Abby stopped dead in her tracks. She could feel something on the back of her head. A gun, she guessed.

She made a great effort and managed to swallow the ice-cream. It was cold against her throat, but she hardly even noticed. She had much more important things to do right then.

She glanced around as well as she could without moving her head too much. There was no one else in the street. "Great," she muttered.

In a normal tone she said: "Rachel, get to the car." Abby's car was only about fifty feet away.

Rachel started to go, but another man stepped into Abby's view, restraining the child. He was wearing a ski mask, though a weird one at that. Most criminals wore black ski masks. This man's' was bright blue with yellow pattern. It was almost comical.

"The girl comes with us," he said. His voice was low. He took Rachel into the van. She struggled, but she was too weak.

"Abby," she yelled, panic showing on her little face. The man pulled her in and they disappeared out of Abby's sight.

"No!" Abby yelled. She swiftly ducked the gun at her head and turned to face the man, kicking her leg straight up into his balls. He gasped in pain and staggered towards the van. His ski mask was a particularly unattractive shade of green and yellow. Abby hit him again, whilst trying to get into the van and get Rachel.

She was almost there, when the man raised a shaking hand and pointed his gun towards Abby. She backed up, grinding her teeth in frustration. The man made it into the van and he stumbled in. Abby made a run for it, but the door was slammed shut before she could make it.

The van sped away, leaving the Goth standing in the middle of the sideway.

She quickly got out her phone and used it to snap a picture of the leaving van. At least she had a license plate now.

Then it really hit her what had happened.

"Rachel," she whispered. Then she ran to her car. The only option right now was getting back to NCIS. No, there was another option too, actually. She decided to use the second one.

She sped after the van, trying to track it. But she rounded the corner that the van had, and sighed disappointedly. The van was long gone.

So she drove to NCIS, her speed comparable with Gibbs' or Ziva's.


	9. Chapter 9

Abby drove back to NCIS as fast as she could. But as she drove, fears began creeping into her heart, along with the tears that slid down her cheeks.

She had just taken Tony and Ziva's child out without telling anyone and to top it off, said child had been kidnapped during their time out.

_How are we gonna get her back? _Abby kept asking herself. Because they had to get her back, for else Abby would never be able to forgive herself.

Her other fear was also completely justified. Being unable to prevent someone's kid from being kidnapped was bad. Really bad. But what if it was a fully trained assassin's child? Abby didn't even want to think of what Ziva would do to her.

Tony probably wouldn't be _that_ bad. Sure, he would be furious at her, but he didn't have the tendency to… well, act like Ziva.

Abby made it back to NCIS in record time. Gibbs himself would've been proud.

She went into her lab at first, sure that she could not just go marching into the bullpen and declare that Rachel had been kidnapped.

No, that just didn't feel right. So she went back to her lab, her heart aching at the thought that she should have been there with Rachel.

She picked up her phone and called just about the one person whom she believed could help her now.

McGee.

He picked up on the first ring, much to Abby's relief.

"Hey, McGee," Abby said into the phone, her voice shaky and upset.

"Abby," he greeted her. Then he turned serious. "What's wrong?"

_Oh, great, _Abby thought to herself. That was sure to get the team's attention too.

"I have a problem. Like, a big one."

"I'll be right there." McGee hung up the phone before Abby could tell him to come alone. Now all she could do was wait and hope he would.

A minute later McGee stepped into her lab.

"McGee, thank God you're here. Ziva's gonna kill me. You have to-" she stopped mid-sentence when said person stepped through her lab door. The whole team was there. Great.

Now it made no difference. She could have just went to the bullpen as well.

Ziva arched an eyebrow at the forensic scientist. "What should I kill you for?" she asked, her tone amused.

Abby's eyes wandered around the room quickly. She looked like a trapped animal looking for a way out, searching for an escape route. But the team was blocking the only exit.

"Abs, what's wrong?" Gibbs asked, concern evident in his voice. He stepped forward a little. Abby backed away, her eyes panicky.

"Where's Rachel?" Tony suddenly asked, causing shivers to run down Abby's spine. The others looked around too at his question, but saw no hint of the little girl.

She had to tell them. Abby knew she had to, but how? How on Earth could she tell them that she let Rachel be kidnapped right before her eyes?

"Well, that's the problem…" the Goth started. She trailed off when she saw Ziva's eyes visibly darken. "She… she was…" Abby couldn't bring herself to say the word out aloud.

"Where is she?" Ziva asked, her voice cold. Abby flinched. It was a tone she might use with someone she was interrogating, but not with her friend.

The Goth looked down at her toes. Tears started to well up in her eyes. "She was kidnapped," she whispered ever so quietly, the first of many tears to come escaping her eye and rolling down her cheek.

They all heard her words. Abby didn't dare look at the faces of her coworkers. Her family.

"How did it happen?" Gibbs demanded. Abby could tell he was forcing himself to be calm.

She couldn't look into his icy blue eyes, afraid of what she might find there, so she spoke to his toes instead. "I took her out to buy ice-cream."

She dared to take a look at their faces.

McGee was shocked.

Gibbs was furious, but she could not determine wether it was directed at her or the people who had taken Rachel.

Tony's face was very pale, but his eyes were flaring with anger.

And Ziva… her face was completely blank. It was creepy. Only her eyes showed the mixture of emotions she actually felt. Abby could see she wanted to do something to her. Something utterly unpleasant. Tony's hand was on Ziva's arm, holding her back.

"We were walking back from the shop to my car," Abby continued, her voice trembling, tears flowing openly. "A green van pulled up beside us. They grabbed Rachel and…" she suddenly found she couldn't go on. It felt like something was blocking her throat and not letting the words come out. She just stood there, giving the impression of a person who doesn't know what to do.

McGee was the first to approach her. He pulled her into a his arms. Abby entwined her hands around him, as if being afraid he might slip away if she let go.

"It's not your fault, Abs. it would've happened anyway." He stroked her back awkwardly with one hand. She just kept crying on his shoulder.

"Yes it is," a sharp voice suddenly rang through the lab. It belonged to Tony. "If you would not have taken her out, none of this would've happened. We could've left her with Jenny or Ducky, but no, we trusted you."

Abby was stunned. She wouldn't have believed Tony could say something like that to her. His words cut straight into her heart, only increasing the pain and guilt she already felt.

"What did they look like?" Gibbs asked, his voice uptight. "The people who took her."

Abby pushed McGee away and tried to wipe her tears, but gave up soon, seeing as she made no progress. "I saw two men, but third one must've been driving the car," she said. "I didn't see their faces, they had ski masks on."

"That is really helpful," Ziva snapped. Abby couldn't look at her. Instead she just went to her computer. She connected her cell phone to it and downloaded the image of the green van.

"But I have a license plate," she said triumphantly, after having zoomed in the picture a little. The number was clearly readable.

She immediately started the search from the database as to who owned it and put out a BOLO.

* * *

_Please review, they really motivate me to write quicker. Otherwise I think you don't even want me to continue._


	10. Chapter 10

_This chapter is dedicated to Alibob, who not only made my day, but also encouraged me to keep writing. Thank you for it.  
_

* * *

It was dark behind the windows of NCIS Squad Room, yet the whole Team Gibbs was still there, sitting at their desks with down expressions. The lack of leads was infuriating.

They had found the van's owner. A man in his late 50's, living in Maryland with his wife. Car had been stolen from his front yard two days ago.

Thus far BOLO had given no results.

They had no idea who might've done it and why. All of them were searching for someone who might've had anything against Tony or Ziva. It felt like chasing a ghost. Giving that ghosts could drag little children into green vans, of course.

Everyone's mood was dark as they sat there, none of them saying a word to break the heavy silence of the room, just waiting for something to happen.

They had not seen Abby since they had left her lab. They all knew it wasn't technically her fault, there was nothing she could've done, but that didn't stop some of the team from blaming her.

A loud ring of a cell phone suddenly pierced the dead silence that hung heavy above the team.

It was Ziva's. She automatically reached into her jeans pocket, taking out the phone.

She glanced at the caller's ID before answering. An anonymous caller.

She had a suspicion as to who it might've been even before she answered the call.

"David," she said into the phone. It was a habit she had picked up from Gibbs, to answer with her last name.

"Finally," said a male voice on the other end. "Finally I get to speak to the woman who killed my brother."

Everyone's eyes were on Ziva. She motioned for McGee to start the trace on the call.

"Who are you?" she asked, even though she was sure he was not going to just tell her his name.

"You haven't already figured that out with your oh so smart brains there?" he asked with a little laugh. "That's a little disappointing."

"Why did you take Rachel?" she asked yet another question.

He laughed again. Evilly. "Isn't it obvious? I want to hurt you like you hurt me."

"You are sick," Ziva replied with disgust in her voice.

"Maybe," he said casually, "but I have your daughter, don't forget that."

Ziva felt anger rising inside her. "If you touch a single hair on her head…" she started, but his maniacal laughter cut her off.

"Then what? You gonna arrest me?" he asked, his voice skeptical.

McGee gave her thmbs-up, indicating that the trace had been successful.

"No," Ziva said, her voice pure hatred. "I am going to kill you."

He just laughed at her words.

Meanwhile, the other members were getting ready to go out. McGee wrote the address out and handed it to Gibbs. Tony started to stand up too, but Gibbs stopped him.

"You stay here and find out who he is and what you or Ziva have done to piss him off."

Tony opened his mouth to argue, but thought better of it when he saw the look on his boss' face.

Ziva took the cell from her ear for a moment and covered the speaker with her hand. "He said I had killed his brother," she told Tony in a low voice.

He nodded. "That might help."

And then they all left for the elevator, leaving Tony to his computer. Ziva put the phone back to her ear, just in time to hear the kidnapper's next words.

"How could you kill me if you don't even know who I am?" he asked with yet another laugh.

"I will find out," Ziva promised as the elevator doors slid shut.

"Now I'm really scared," he retorted sarcastically.

The dots suddenly connected in Ziva's head. "Why did you kill Maggie?" she asked on a sudden impulse.

"Ooh," he said mockingly, "you have figured out _something_."

Ziva just waited.

"Well…" he pretended to be thinking. "I guess she became too annoying. She wanted to protect the kid, you know." He said the latter in a conspiratorial tone, something that made Ziva want to really jump through the phone and strangle him, as she had once promised to do when she was pt on hold.

She said nothing, though.

"I mean, what else could I have done, she would've ran right to you and warned you," he said, as if killing someone was a completely natural thing to do in a situation like that. It almost seemed like he spoke of that the same way he would speak of going to buy milk.

Ziva decided she had enough of that topic, so she quickly switched to a new one.

"What do you want for Rachel?" she asked. Her plan was to keep him talking, so that he would maybe not move to a new place.

"Nothing," he replied, surprising the Israeli. Kidnappers always wanted something. Mostly money. "I didn't do this for money," he explained, his voice malicious. "I told you, I did this to make you suffer. To let you know what it feels like to lose someone you care of."

Ziva silently grinded her teeth. How come she had stumbled onto a psycho of that caliber? Couldn't it really be a little less psychotic psycho?

"Wait until we catch you and we will see who will suffer then," she threatened.

The team reached their car and they got in quickly.

"You will never see your daughter again," he promised, his tone mean and full of hate. "At least not alive." And with that he hung up.

"The hell I will not," she muttered darkly under her breath, the quietly said sentence containing a promise that she would do everything she could to get her child back alive and well.

* * *

_Remember, reviews are always appreciated._


	11. Chapter 11

The team got into the car and sped away. Gibbs seemed to never take his foot off the gas as they maneuvered between other cars. The speed got higher and higher by the minute. The team cringed whenever another near miss came a little too near for their better liking. The music of car horns blowing seemed to never cease.

They reached their destination, an old abandoned warehouse in record time.

The building was very old and had probably not been in use for God knows how long period of time. It looked about ready to fall apart completely.

They got out of the government issue car and ran to the building. It wasn't big, so this made their search easier.

They sneaked in through the front entrance, having decided to make as little sound as possible. It turned out the warehouse only consisted of one big storage room. There were several big boxes in it, making it impossible to see the whole room at once.

If they would've looked at the room form above, they would've seen the maze the boxes created, and perhaps even a man slipping out through the back, where was a hole in the wall. He was carrying a little girl in his arms. But the agents didn't see either of those things.

Instead they split up to search for anyone who might've been there

Pretty soon they realized the room was empty. Ziva found a note taped to the far wall.

"Did you really think I was that stupid. It is a little disappointing. I knew you would trace the call. Rachel is okay. Cute girl, by the way. I left something of hers for you to keep. Something that would remind you of her during those long days without her to come. I'll call again soon, so we can continue the chase, it's just getting interesting."

Ziva felt anger and hatred flare inside her. For a moment she forgot everything else, she just wanted to catch that man and do… what? What would she want to do to him? She didn't even know what would be horrible enough.

She looked back at the letter. "Something of hers for you to keep." She glanced around to find anything that might be Rachel's. She didn't see anything.

She was just praying that it wasn't a part of her, like a finger of something, when she looked down to the floor. With those bastards one could never know. But there it was. In the dust before her feet lay a golden necklace. She pulled on a rubber glove and picked it up. It was definitely Rachel's. it was the exact copy of Ziva's own with only one difference. On the back of the star was a tiny engraving with Rachel's name and birthday. It had been Tony's present to her when she was born.

Ziva placed the necklace into an evidence bag, considering it evidence. Maybe there was something on it that would help them find Rachel.

Then she did the same with the note. She extracted it carefully from the wall, taking the pieces of sticky tape with it and bagged the piece of paper.

Suddenly she heard footsteps behind her. She spun around, drawing her gun from its holster and pointing it at the person who had sneaked up on her.

She relaxed a little when she realized it was only Gibbs. He headed over to her, holstering his own gun in the process.

"He's gone," he informed her, frustration clearly audible in his voice.

Ziva held out the letter for him to take. "I know."

Gibbs took the note from her outstretched hand. His face grew darker as he read the letter. "Bastard," he muttered.

Gibbs and Ziva both turned around suddenly, their guns drawn once more as they heard another pair of feet making sound behind them. They had both acted on instinct.

McGee's eyes widened considerably as he took in the weapons aimed at him. He put his hands up automatically. It took him a little time to see the people behind the guns. It was always like that for him. He saw the gun before he saw the person holding it.

"Hey," he greeted his teammates, his tone unsure. Both Gibbs and Ziva lowered their weapons with a sigh. Gibbs passed the note on to Tim.

They saw his eyebrows raise as he read the writing on the piece of paper. When he finished reading he looked up, clearly at a loss for words.

"We should get back to NCIS," Gibbs finally noted, breaking the silence.

Ziva and Tim complied, realizing there was no chance that Rachel was still there. They silently followed their boss out of the building to their car.

The ride back to NCIS was filled with a dead silence. The hopes that had arisen in all of them had been violently crushed by the failure at the warehouse.

* * *

_Every single review is well appreciated and replied to. Just a little hint ;)_


	12. Chapter 12

_Sorry for the long wait. I had this chapter all done and ready for posting, but then I decided that it wasn't quite right and i had to redo it. It still isn't exactly as I would like it, but it's the best I could do and I wanted to post something.  
_

* * *

They all heard the familiar ding of the elevator as the cold metal doors slid open with a quiet whoosh.

Tony looked up from his desk expectantly as soon as he heard the sound of the elevator arriving. It was sad to see the enormous hope in his jade green eyes being violently shattered as his eyes met the fact that they were coming back without Rachel.

"What've you got, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked as soon as they reached hearing distance.

"Uh," Tony started, scrambling to hide the disappointment in his eyes, where he was sure it would be up for anyone to see. It was threatening to overwhelm him. "This is our guy. His name is Sean Thompson," Tony informed the team, pulling the man's profile up onto the plasma. "I used some McGeek skills and found out that he made the call to Ziva's cell. He tried to make it look anonymous, but not good enough." He grinned at his own success.

The team gathered around the plasma.

"He has no criminal record thus far, but I found a connection between him and Ziva." He sneaked a glance at his wife before continuing. "You killed his brother three months ago."

When Ziva's eyebrows started to furrow in confusion, Tony elaborated.

"In a shootout," he explained. "Somehow he had managed to hack into our records and found out it was you who fired the kill shot."

Everyone's eyes widened significantly at the word "hack". It was not every day that someone managed to break into their well-guarded system.

But Tony wasn't quite finished yet. With a push of a button on the controller he pulled up an insane asylum's home page. "Once I found out his name, I dug deeper. He turned completely nuts after his brother's death. They were always very close."

Gibbs raised an eyebrow at the screen. "So you're saying we're dealing with a complete psycho?"

"Yep," Tony replied with a sad sigh. Then he turned back to the plasma screen. "During the last three months after his brother's untimely demise he was held in this mental hospital here in DC. He escaped a week ago."

Abby sat quietly in her lab in front of her computer, staring at the screen where was a fullscreen photo of a little girl laughing. She had took it herself as recently as a week ago, yet so much had changed during that time.

She brought a hand to her face to wipe away some of the tears that ran down her cheeks non-stop.

At first there had been dark streaks of mascara on her skin, but the constant flow had taken the stains with it.

The weather behind her window was as dark as her mood. She had been trying desperately to find something that would help them find Rachel the whole day, but hadn't succeeded.

To say she was disappointed would've been an understatement. Abby Sciuto was frustrated. She had been working harder than ever the whole day. She should've found something by now. She had to find something.

She had been crying with short breaks since the team had left her lab, and now she just couldn't make it stop.

She hadn't seen anyone since the team had left. She felt useless, even Gibbs hadn't come downstairs to see if she had found something. Even McGee hadn't been back to check up on her.

"Abigail?" a grandfatherly voice enquired from behind her, deep concern audible in his tone.

Abby sighed inwardly with relief. Ducky could make every situation brighter, no matter how dark it was.

She lifted herself up from the computer chair and launched herself at Ducky, throwing her arms around him.

He patted her back and sighed sadly. He then led her to the back of the lab. He didn't stop once he had passed the glass door though, but led her even farther, to the very back room where she had a couch.

He seated her there and sat beside her.

Abby just sat there, looking lost. Her eyes were on her hands which were placed in her lap on top of each other and she couldn't seem to stop her fingers from fidgeting.

Ducky's heart filled with compassion and pain as he looked at her. She seemed so little, so vulnerable, he wanted to protect her from the cruel world and the cruel people living in it.

But there was nothing he could do now to help her; they had to concentrate on helping Rachel. Abby was blaming it all on herself and Ducky was sure nothing he said would change that.

She was convinced that Rachel's kidnapping had been entirely her fault.

Ducky reached out and rubbed the Goth's shoulder kindly. As if on cue Abby threw herself into his embrace. He quickly wrapped his arms around her as she sobbed into his shoulder.

"It's all my fault, Ducky," she whispered, her words filled with pain.

Ducky stroked her back encouragingly. "You are not to blame, Abby," he said softly, yet his voice was firm. He was wishing she'd believe him, and knowing at the same time that she wouldn't.

"I took her out of here," she sobbed. Her tears started to make Ducky's shoulder wet, but he couldn't have cared less.

Instead he grabbed her gently by the shoulders and pushed her away from himself a little, so that he could look her straight into the eyes. They were red and swollen from the crying.

"He was determined to kidnap Rachel," Ducky insisted. "He would've found a way to do it anyway. It is not your fault."

Abby looked like she desperately wanted to believe him, but was having a moderately hard time accomplishing it.

"Besides," Ducky continued. "They will find her in no time. Have they ever failed to find someone who's been kidnapped?" Ducky asked her.

Abby managed a ghost of a smile. "No," she mumbled through the tears. "Oh, Ducky," she sighed, wiping at her wet cheeks. "You always know what to say."

And with that she hugged her arms around the Medical Examiner again, who at the given moment was not a Medical Examiner but a friend, and buried her face back into his shoulder.

He sighed and rubbed her back comfortingly. As she slowly fell asleep in his arms a single tear made its way down his cheek unnoticed.

* * *

_Please review. They really make my day._


	13. Chapter 13

_I would like to thank everyone who have reviewed and alerted thus far. I know it sounds like the story is ending but it isn't. Not yet, I have some more things planned for it. Anyways, on with the next chapter, this time it's a bit longer one :)  
_

* * *

It was almost midnight when the team finally agreed to go home. They all piled into the elevator. Everyone but Gibbs who had said he had one more thing to do. None of them said a word during the ride down.

They parted their ways in the parking garage, everyone heading towards their own cars.

Tony and Ziva had come to work with both of their cars this day. Tony had come earlier and Ziva a bit later, when she had finally managed to convince Rach to wear a jacket. It had taken a considerable amount of time.

Now this morning seemed like years ago. It was strange how just one day could change so much.

It was frustrating. There was nothing they could do to find Rachel. They had pulled all possible records on Sean, which wasn't a lot but had gotten no clues out of them. The man was a ghost.

They didn't know what else to do. Only wait for something to happen. But waiting made them all feel so utterly useless. They should be doing something, not waiting for the kidnapper to make a mistake.

So now they each went to their own cars. Tony made it to his first and he got in, starting the engine. When he rode past Ziva who was just opening the door to the driver's seat, he stopped and rolled down a window.

"I'll go, Zi, see you at home," he said and waved to her.

"I will be right behind you."

Gibbs left about ten minutes after his team. He went to the parking lot, walking slowly to his car, thoughts still filled with all of the day's failures. They were not an inch closer to finding Rachel than they were yesterday.

His car became visible on the other side of the dark and deserted parking garage. He quickened his pace, wanting to get away from the cold.

There was only one car on the parking lot other than his, parked about ten yards away from his. It's lights were out, but Gibbs instantly recognized it.

Only one person working there owned a Mini. And that person should have left the parking lot ten minutes ago.

He approached the little car with various feelings. Had Ziva been kidnapped too? Even though he knew it was an impossible act for one man to do, he was relieved when he saw her sitting in the driver's seat, completely alive.

He got in, closing the door after him. He turned to look at her and what he saw broke his heart.

Ziva's face was perfectly composed as always, but she couldn't hide the mixture of various feelings in her eyes.

Those dark chocolate brown eyes were screaming for help, promising revenge and crying over a lost daughter.

Rivers of tears were streaming down her cheeks, taking mascara with them. She raised a hand to her face, wiping the tears away. But it did no good. New ones were already coming. She made another failed attempt to hide her crying, but gave up. She didn't care anymore. What did it matter now if Gibbs saw her crying?

She made no sound, but Gibbs could see that she wanted to scream. Scream at everyone, including Gibbs himself. She didn't want him there, didn't want him to see her like that.

But at the same time she did want him there, even if she didn't admit it to herself. Gibbs knew it and he wanted to help.

One of Ziva's hands was resting on the steering wheel. Gibbs slowly reached for it, touching her fingers gently, his icy blue eyes filled with warmth and compassion.

"I will bring her back, Ziva," he promised, placing his hand on top of hers.

"How can you live without them, Gibbs?" she asked, eyes hopeless. If she would've lost Tony too, she would've lost her mind completely.

Gibbs said nothing. He knew who she was talking about. But didn't need to say anything. Ziva read the answer from his eyes, and what she found there was of no comfort to her. Gibbs looked away, his own pain now filling his heart, pain over his own lost family, in addition to the pain he felt over seeing Ziva like that, in the same situation.

"Where's Tony?" he asked, attempting to get her to think of other things.

When she answered her voice was blank. "He went home. I told him I would be right behind him."

Gibbs looked at her. She still didn't seem to be completely convinced. "We'll find her, Ziva," he assured her yet again.

She looked down at her hands. "If there is something left to find," she mumbled, almost too quietly for Gibbs to hear. Almost, but not quite.

"There is," he promised fiercely. He knew their chances were not the best. Rachel had been gone for half a day now. And usually the kidnappers made the mistake of always calling, thus revealing their location. This one didn't want money or anything else but to see Ziva hurting. But even with slim choices there was a chance. And Gibbs was going to rely on that little chance they still had left. He wouldn't stop looking until he had seen her body. Something he hoped would never happen.

Tony pulled up in front of their apartment building and got out, heading into the building. He moved like a zombie on autopilot, weary of the day's events and yet wishing he could do something more.

He went to the bathroom to brush his teeth while waiting for Ziva to arrive. Their apartment was eerily quiet without their daughter's squealing and laughing. It was a tad bit creepy, even.

Tony finished with his teeth and went to the living room. He turned on the TV and browsed through channels, completely uninterested, not even paying much attention to the screen.

Instead he remembered how they were so often sprawled out on that same couch. Him, Ziva, Rach. Together, enjoying a movie. It seemed like a distant past now. Yet he kept repeating to himself that they would find her, like a mantra to keep him sane.

When Ziva hadn't arrived for twenty minutes, he was starting to get more than a bit worried. But it was Ziva, and she was known for doing unexpected things, so he decided to wait a little more. Plus, she was fully capable of protecting herself from practically any attack. Not that he believed anyone would attack her, but still.

After ten more minutes he got out his cell phone and pushed speed dial 1. At precisely the same moment he heard the front door open. He disconnected the call and went to see if it was really her.

It was. But she didn't look the same as usually. Her eyes were red and swollen and he could instantly see that she had been crying. And a lot, considering how she looked.

He stepped closer to her and wrapped his arms around her, engulfing her in a comforting hug. She let him hold her.

"What took you so long?" he asked softly, stroking her hair.

"I just needed to be alone," she said as she freed herself from his embrace and headed towards the bathroom.

It wasn't until they were in the bed that either of them spoke again.

"We'll find her, Ziva," he promised in a soft voice.

She turned to look him in the eyes. "How do you know?" she asked, her tone giving away that she didn't have much faith in it.

In truth he didn't now it, but he had his utterly optimistic attitude, which served quite the same purpose.

"I just know," he whispered and pulled her closer to him. She snuggled up against his chest.

They fell asleep like that, in each other's arms, desperately clutching onto what they still had left.

* * *

_Reviews make my day... Just a little hint..._


	14. Chapter 14

In Ziva's dream she stood in an old empty house. She was searching for something, desperate to find it, yet she couldn't bring herself to remember what exactly "it" was that she was looking for.

She wandered around the building, trying to figure out why she was even there. But she couldn't.

She knew there was a reason why she was there, and a good one at that, but she didn't know what exactly. She wandered around on an instinct, knowing she couldn't leave once she had found the searchable.

The house was divided into smaller rooms. She walked along a ridiculously long corridor, opening doors along the way and looking into the rooms.

The hallway seemed to stretch out into eternity. She couldn't see where it ended, or where it had started, but she was quite sure that any house should not be that large.

And the fact that made the corridor extra creepy was that there were no windows. There were none in the rooms that surrounded it either. The light came from small lamps from the ceiling, but the lights seemed to be motion-sensitive. The hallway was lit only for about fifteen yards in either direction, the rest was surrounded by thick darkness.

All the rooms she looked into seemed exactly the same, the corridor never changed.

She kept going, glancing into the rooms as she went. They were all empty.

She kept chasing a purpose she wasn't even aware of.

It seemed like she had been searching for hours, driven by this unexplainable force, when she finally reached the end of the hallway.

She stopped in her tracks, staring at the simple wooden door before her.

There didn't seem to be anything special about the door, yet se was sure there was more to it than met the eye. She knew instantly that behind that door was what she was looking for, even though she still couldn't quite put her finger onto what exactly this was.

Taking a deep breath she reached for the doorknob and pushed. It opened smoothly.

She stepped in.

The room looked exactly the same as the other ones she had seen before, only bigger.

In the middle of the room stood Sean Thompson, looking exactly as he had in his driver's license photo.

Ziva took a sharp intake of air as her eyes met the scene before her.

The man held Rachel in front of him. he held a knife against her throat.

Rachel looked at Ziva with pleading eyes, the look in them broke Ziva's heart. She had to help her, yet she didn't know how. Any wrong move from her could cause Rachel's death.

Her hand moved to her waist on instinct. Yet there was no gun there. "Let her go," she pleaded the man. He shook his head, an evil grin playing on his lips.

"Take me instead of her." Another headshake.

As Ziva started to approach the man slowly, he quickly pulled the knife over the child's throat, slitting it with no effort at all.

Ziva stopped dead in her tracks, shock pouring over her. She saw blood staining Rachel's light green blouse.

She woke with a start as the little body slumped to the floor, barely making a sound. The man's maniacal laughter still echoing in her ears she rolled over to her back. Her breathing was heavy as if she had just run a marathon and she was covered in cold sweat. Her heart was pounding heavily against her ribcage.

_It was just a dream, _she convinced herself. _Just a dream. Rachel _is_ still alive._

She glanced at the clock on the nightstand. It was four fifty-seven. She let out an inaudible groan and took a look at Tony's sleeping form. He was peaceful, unlike her.

When she had finally convinced herself that it had been just a bad dream and nothing more she slid out of bed silently, making sure not to wake Tony.

She headed through the apartment towards the bathroom, her soft footsteps making no sound against the floor. She closed the door after her and stripped out of her pajamas. Stepping into the shower she turned the water on and let it flow over her body. The warm water felt good against her skin.

She tried to forget the dream as she scrubbed shampoo into her hair, but found it father difficult. She kept thinking about how Rachel had to spend the night in some totally foreign place for her, with a man who wished no good for her.

She felt tears trickling down her face along with the water coming from the shower. She let them flow, unable to bring herself to care.

She didn't know how long she was in the shower, but finally she shut the water off and stepped out, instantly creating a small puddle onto the tiled floor. She grabbed a towel and dried herself, then scrubbed her dripping hair until it was dry enough to not make her clothes wet. She then wrapped the towel around her body.

She exited the bathroom, feeling much better than before and went towards Rachel's room. She stood at the door, leaning against the doorframe and prayed they would find her. That she could hold her in her arms again, kiss her head and tuck her in for the night.

Suddenly she felt a burning need to get out of there. She backed out of Rachel's room and returned to her and Tony's. She found a pen and a piece of paper and quickly scribbled a note to him.

_Went to work. Love you, Ziva._

She then changed into beige cargo pants and a dark blue long-sleeved blouse, seeing as it would've been a bit inappropriate to show up in the Navy Yard with just a towel wrapped around her body.

She made her way to the front door, grabbing her keys, wallet and badge as she went. Then she muttered something unintelligible under her breath and headed back to their bedroom to fetch her gun from under her pillow. It was a habit she had mostly managed to get rid of, seeing as there was a little child in the house. But this night she had slept with her gun anyway, just in case Sean or one of his accomplices, if he had those, came after Tony or herself.

Ziva then left the apartment quietly as a ghost, locking the door after her.

* * *

_Please review._


	15. Chapter 15

Ziva stepped out onto the street, exiting the sleeping building. There were very few cars and people on the street this time of day, but that was exactly how she liked it.

She stalked over to her red Mini Cooper and slid into it. She put the key into the ignition and turned it until the car hummed to life.

She took off, pressing her foot hard onto the gas pedal. She loved the rush it gave her to speed along the empty streets with no regard for speed limits. She came to a screeching halt in front of her favorite coffee shop, having almost missed it.

She bought herself a hot latte and went back to her car, where she placed it into the cup holder and sped away towards NCIS.

The building was almost empty. The man at the front desk eyed her suspiciously, but she showed him her ID and continued towards the elevators.

She knew the others wouldn't arrive for at least an hour and that she would probably have nothing to do there this early, but she had come anyway.

The elevator stopped and the doors opened to the Squad Room. It was empty this early, and the lights were off. She made her way to the bullpen and went to sit at her desk.

"Good morning, Ziva."

It took all she had in her to keep herself from jumping a mile or pulling her gun or knife at the person who had greeted her. She was very irritable these days.

Instead she took a calming breath and turned around to face him. "Good morning, Gibbs," she said.

He stood at the other entrance of the bullpen, a coffee in hand. He had stopped in his tracks when he'd caught sight of Ziva. He hadn't expected her this early, but, it was Ziva, so he probably should've guessed. He continued to his desk and sat down.

Ziva stole a glance at him. "What are you doing here so early?" she asked.

He smirked. "I could ask you the exact same question."

Ziva gave a mental sigh. That man just had to have this ability of wriggling out of just about any question.

"I could not sleep much," she answered. It was partly the truth. Why had she come to the office instead of staying home and waiting for Tony to wake up? She didn't know. "You?" she inquired, feeling that if she had given him the answer, he might as well give her one too.

"Never left last night," he said.

Ziva nodded slightly. He had probably come back upstairs once she had left the parking garage. Had it been anyone else but Gibbs, she would've asked why. But it _was _Gibbs, so she didn't. Instead she just turned on her computer.

With Gibbs it was always wiser to ask as little questions as possible. Especially questions concerning him. And his personal life and actions. He didn't tend to think well of overly curious people.

Gibbs was a man who did what he wanted and explained himself to very few people. And even then it would've had to be in very dire circumstances.

So Ziva didn't push it, and to be honest, she didn't even care much.

Tony arrived about an hour later, giving a smile to Ziva and a 'good morning' to both Ziva and Gibbs.

Tim came in ten minutes later.

And now, when the whole team was together in the bullpen, they had nothing to do.

The BOLO had gotten no hits and the credit card and phone records still showed nothing. The team was out of clues.

After about an hour of pointless sitting and complaining about the lack of leads, Abby came running into the bullpen. Her pigtails were bouncing back and forth and her breathing was heavy. It seemed like she had taken the stairs, instead of wasting time to wait for the elevator.

"Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs!" she yelled as she came to a bit unstable stop in front of his desk. The team had never understood how she managed to walk in that high platforms, much less run up the stairs.

Abby completely ignored the not so friendly looks she was receiving from certain individuals in the bullpen, who didn't seem to appreciate her overly excited mood.

"I've been monitoring the kidnapper's cell phone activity for the whole night, with the help of about eight Caf-POW!'s, or maybe nine, more like eight, I don't quite remember that…"

"Abby!" Gibbs interrupted her rambling. "Calm down."

Abby shut up and her eyes widened in surprise. "Oh. I'm off topic." It sounded very much like she'd said it only to herself and not Gibbs. "Getting back on topic. Anyways, Sean is making a call now." Abby gave Gibbs a piece of yellow paper with the address. "Not to any one of you," she glanced around the room. The team was already gearing up. "So he probably won't leave this spot right away," she yelled after the team, who were quickly disappearing into the elevator.

When they were gone she smiled to herself. The night up and monitoring cell phone activity had finally paid off. Then a thought hit her and she hurried down to her lab to count the empty Caf-POW! cups scattered around her lab. "It couldn't be nine, could it?" she muttered under her breath wonderingly.

* * *

_Please, please, please review. It would really make my day if we could reach 100 reviews with this chapter. So make me happy and give your input to the 100 reviews goal!  
_


	16. Chapter 16

_You guys are awesome! Ten reviews for one chapter! And you accomplished the 100 goal! Keep going like that! I love you all, my dear readers, especially the ones who have reviewed!  
_

* * *

Gibbs doubted he had ever driven quite _that _fast. Yes, he always drove fast, it helped save valuable time. And when it came down to a suspect-chase he drove even faster, it helped increase the chances of actually catching the bad guy.

But when it came to the fact that he was chasing a man who had kidnapped the girl who he considered almost as his granddaughter, he used the highest speed possible in the current circumstances.

Which was also the reason why he swerved from one edge of the highway to another, to get past the cars who were moving much too slowly for his liking.

Though it did not seem to suite well with the other drivers, who had to brake and let him through. The sound of blaring car horns was non-stop.

They arrived two houses away from the house Abby had given them the address to, in case Sean was watching out the window. They decided on approaching as quietly and stealthily as possible.

So they got out of the car and ran to the intended house, trying their best to remain invisible.

Gibbs sent McGee and Ziva to the back of the house, to enter through the back door, while he stayed in the front with Tony.

"In position," Ziva whispered into the transmitter. Through the earwigs the rest of the team could hear her.

"Copy," the answer came from Gibbs. "Enter on three. Quietly."

"Roger that," McGee replied.

"One," Gibbs started counting. "Two. Three."

All four agents entered the house quietly as ghosts. Luckily both front and back doors had been unlocked, so they didn't need to waste time on picking locks.

"Kitchen is clear," Ziva announced, right as Tony said the same about the bathroom.

"Found him," Gibbs suddenly called out in normal voice. "Living room."

The other three agents ran to the living room too. Gibbs stood by one of the doors that led out of the room, his gun aimed at Sean who stood in the middle of the room, cell phone in hand.

"I'll call you back," he said into the phone, then disconnected the call.

McGee appeared in the doorway next to Gibbs, Ziva and Tony in the other one. Sean didn't as much as blink when he noticed the four guns aimed at him.

"Where is Rachel?" both Tony and Ziva demanded.

"She's not here," he answered with a smirk.

They both had murderous looks on their faces, so Gibbs decided to prevent it.

"Easy," he warned them. "If you kill him now then we have no possibility of finding Rachel."

They seemed to understand that, but that didn't lessen those oh-so-willing-to-commit-homicide looks on their faces.

"DiNozzo, cuff him," Gibbs ordered his Senior Agent.

Tony approached Sean and did as he was told, clicking to handcuffs on tighter than necessary, causing Sean to let out a grunt of pain. "You are under arrest for kidnapping my daughter." Then he continued just a little off the usual lines. "You have the right to remain silent, though it is not recommended for your own safety. Anything you say will be used against you in any possible way."

Gibbs chuckled at Tony's words.

Then Tony and McGee went to take Sean to the car, while Gibbs and Ziva went to search the rest of the house. Maybe Rachel was there too, even though Sean had said she was not.

They checked the building as thoroughly as they could, but found no one. The house was empty.

"She isn't here, Ziva," Gibbs tried to convince her when she wanted to search more.

"Maybe she is," she insisted, but Gibbs pulled her to the car. She didn't resist.

"Every minute we spend here just delays finding her further. That SOB in the car knows where she is," Gibbs exclaimed almost angrily. "The sooner we get him back to NCIS, the sooner he'll tell us where she is."

Ziva looked like Gibbs had finally convinced her and went to the car willingly. Tony's face fell noticeably when he saw them coming back without Rachel. Again.

Gibbs threw the keys to Ziva, earning confused and somewhat frightened looks from his other agents.

"Boss, you sure about that?" Tony asked Gibbs with disbelief, only to have Gibbs' hand meet the back of his head. Again. "You're sure about it."

The drive back to NCIS was even worse than Ziva's driving usually was, but Gibbs trusted her to control herself enough to not crash anywhere.

The team had gotten used to Ziva's driving for now, actually. Or at least her usual driving. That one was way over the limit even for her. McGee was slightly green when they reached the Navy Yard. Yet his slightly greenish tone was nothing compared to Sean. He looked about ready to throw up any minute now. Which, as everyone suspected, had partly been a reason for the extremely high speed. That and the fact that Ziva was pissed off.

* * *

_Now review, review, review, and make me as happy as you did with the last chapter!_


	17. Chapter 17

_This chapter is dedicated to LyssLovesTiva33 who gave me the new and much better summary. Once again, thank you Lyss.  
_

* * *

Sean sat at the table in an Interrogation Room. He wasn't nervous, or if he was he hid it well. He looked like a man who knew he had nothing to lose.

"Gibbs is gonna crack him," Tony said on the other side of the glass. He sounded like he really believed that. And he probably did. He seemed to have an unbreakable trust in Gibbs and his uncanny abilities.

Ziva and McGee said nothing, they just watched as the former Marine stepped into the Interrogation Room and sat down opposite of him.

"I'm not gonna tell you anything," Sean promised, folding his arms across his chest stubbornly.

Gibbs stared at him. "You got something to hide?"

"No," he replied, just a tiny bit too quickly. "As I said, I'm not gonna tell you anything."

"And why's that?"

"Why should I?" he asked, going onto defensive as Gibbs had hoped. "You haven't done any good to me," he stated and leaned back on the chair as if deciding not to say anything anymore.

Gibbs shrugged casually. "What harm have we done?"

Sean gaped at him for a while, as if not believing what the older man was saying. "Are you nuts? You killed my brother."

Gibbs shook his head calmly. "I didn't." He was trying to destroy Sean's calm, and thus far the technique was working perfectly.

"But your team member did!"

"So?" Gibbs asked, shrugging again and leaning back in his chair casually. "I'm not responsible for their actions."

Sean said nothing, only huffed.

"I have never done anything bad to you." That was a fact.

But Sean still found a way to jump over it. "You dragged me here. You saying it's not bad for me?"

Gibbs quickly switched to a new technique. "It was for your own safety," he stated.

Sean was momentarily dumbstruck, too stunned to say anything. Then he burst out laughing. But he quickly regained his composure. "How the hell is this for my safety?" he demanded, glancing around the little concrete room. It really did seem ironical.

"There are people out there who want to kill you."

On the other side of the glass quite a few people snorted. Leave it to Gibbs to distort the completely true facts so that they serve exactly his purpose.

"And you're protecting me from them?" Sean asked sarcastically.

Gibbs nodded. "I can provide you with the best protection."

Sean seemed to consider it for a while. "Who wants to kill me?" he asked disbelievingly.

"Quite a few people."

"Why?"

Gibbs chuckled. "Oh, believe me, they all have different reasons."

Sean bit his lip. Gibbs could not believe he was really that stupid to take the story he fed him as utter truth. It was truth, actually, but a very distorted truth.

"Let's pretend for a moment that I agree," Sean said. "What do you want in return?"

_Is he really falling for that?_ Gibbs thought, but didn't show his doubts to Sean. Maybe there were people other than his team who wanted to kill him? One could never know with psychopaths like Sean.

"I want you to tell me where you left that little girl you kidnapped."

Sean's eyes turned angry. "No," he growled.

"So you admit you kidnapped her?"

"I admit nothing."

Gibbs smiled. It was one of those multipurpose smiles that could be considered either friendly or even evil, completely depending on the situation. "Or I could throw you out on the street. You wouldn't last 'til tomorrow."

"I can hide myself very well."

Gibbs laughed. "If we could find you in just one day, then how long do you think it would take them? They're much more resourceful."

Sean leaned closer to Gibbs, placing his elbows on the table. "Who are they?" he demanded.

The ex-Marine chuckled again. "Well, you could say that Mossad itself is after you."

The man paled considerably. Gibbs could see a flicker of fear in his eyes. It took all the control he had to not burst out laughing. Had Sean done something to piss off the Mossad in reality? Gibbs hadn't hoped he would believe the story _that_ fast.

It was incredible how the facts could be rearranged. Everything stayed completely true, but the full picture came out completely different.

Because it _was _all true. There were people who wanted to kill Sean: Ziva and Tony. Maybe even Gibbs himself. Ziva had been a Mossad Officer, so one could probably say Mossad was after him. And, Mossad was more resourceful than NCIS. Gibbs had just left out the little fact that those resources didn't exactly expand to Ziva.

But making up this story was fun nevertheless. Especially rewarding was to see it actually being taken at face value.

"So here's the deal," Gibbs started, observing Sean's reaction closely. "You tell me where to find the girl and I provide the protection from Mossad."

Sean opened his mouth to protest, but Gibbs raised his hand to stop him.

"Or I throw you out onto the street for them to kill. The choice is yours."

Gibbs waited and watched the process of deciding take place before his eyes. Finally he nodded and leaned forward. "I take your offer," he agreed.

Gibbs smiled at him encouragingly. "That's a good decision." He then pulled out a map from his pocket, along with a pen. He unfolded it onto the table. "Show me, where is she."

Sean studied the map for a while, his eyes darting from one end of it to another, searching for the right location. Finally he pointed out a townhouse. "The girl is in there. The owners are away on a vacation."

Gibbs' expression changed that quickly that it shouldn't have been possible. Just a fraction of a second ago it had been victorious, pleased with the fact that Sean had given in to his demands so quickly. Now it was one of anger, fury even.

"You saying I look like I'm on a vacation?" he demanded, his tone drastically changed.

Sean looked up from the map. "What?" he asked, confusion spreading over his face.

A fake confusion, as Gibbs now knew. That man was a hell of a liar.

"That's my house, you dirtbag!"

* * *

_Please review and tell me what you think._


	18. Chapter 18

_I'm so so sorry for the long wait. I promise the next chapter will be up much quicker than this one. And once again the thanks and dedication goes to LyssLovesTiva33 who agreed to be my beta for this and the next chapter.  
_

* * *

A sort of an 'oops' expression crossed Sean's face for only a moment, but Gibbs was skilled in detecting tiny micro-expressions. It was quickly covered by a blank expression. "I don't know whose house it is, but she is there, I swear to you. She's been there the whole time!"

"Well, the last time I checked, she was not there!"

It seemed bizarre, that from the thousands of houses Sean could've said Rachel was in, he had to pick that one house. The one place where Gibbs knew she wasn't. It took skill, plus a whole lot of misfortune to pick out the home of their fearless leader.

Gibbs glared at the man in front of him. Suddenly a huge grin spread over Sean's face. Gibbs couldn't help but wonder, what game was he playing? He lied and didn't even try to hide that he lied. He seemed to be enjoying it.

"You remember what I told you would happen if you lied?" Gibbs asked, getting up from his chair and slowly approaching Sean. The villain turned his head to look at Gibbs. "I will not let her kill you, it would mean a hell of a paperwork for us, but I'll be sure to give her a moment alone with you."

Sean's brow furrowed. "Who's she?"

Gibbs turned to leave the room. "The girl's mother."

In the observation room McGee shot Ziva a slightly frightful glance. Tony on the other hand looked pleased at his boss' words. A flicker of hope could be seen in Ziva's eyes.

Sean's laughter stopped him from leaving. He was facing a very real possibility of being locked up in a room with an extremely pissed off Ziva, and he laughed. "What's she gonna do to me? She's just another NCIS agent like you." He put a mocking emphasis on 'NCIS'. "Besides, she's a woman. She could do nothing to me."

"Oh, she is so much more than that," Gibbs said, his tone a bit amused.

"Yeah?" Sean retorted. "How's that?"

Gibbs opened the door. "Remember when I told you about Mossad?" Then he stepped out of the room, leaving a dumbstruck Sean sitting at the table.

Gibbs stepped out of the Interrogation Room, locking the door after him, and headed to the Observation. All three of his agents were still standing there, observing the man on the other side of the glass, smug expressions on their faces. They were doing exactly as the sign on the door instructed. They observed.

But when they heard the door being opened they stopped observing and turned around to meet their boss.

"Tony, take McGee," Gibbs ordered his Senior Field Agent, while not even completely in the room yet. "Go check my house, just in case. I haven't been home since this whole thing started."

The two agents quickly left to carry out their orders. Gibbs remained where he was. Ziva stepped forward a little. "What about me?" she asked in a sort of emotionless, dead tone.

A sympathetic expression crossed Gibbs' features. He knew what it was like to just sit doing nothing, but it was necessary at the moment. "You'll wait. If she's not in my house, which I'm sure of, then you'll go and get the right location." Ziva's mouth opened as if she wanted to say something. "Until then," Gibbs raised his voice just a little, stopping her from getting a word in. "Until then you'll wait," he said more softly this time.

About twenty minutes later Gibbs' phone started to ring. It echoed through the thick and heavy silence of the Observation Room, where Gibbs and Ziva still stood and watched Sean sit at the table. He looked perfectly at ease.

He grabbed the phone from his pants pocket and brought it to his ear, answering as always with a curt "Gibbs."

He listened intently at what he was being told, though it did not seem to be happy news, given the change his expression made when the call reached its end.

He hung up, as abruptly and without saying goodbye as usual. He then turned to face Ziva, who had been still as a statue during the phone call. Gibbs could see hopelessness and regret on her features. "He's all yours," he told her. His words caused a smirk to crawl up her features. She had been waiting for her revenge far too long.

She turned to stalk out of the room.

"Ziva," he called out. She stopped, with one hand on the door handle, she turned to face him. "Whatever you do, no visible damage."

Ziva nodded once and stepped out of the room. She crossed the few yards between the two rooms and entered the other one, closing the door firmly after her with a resounding click.

She was finally alone in a room with the man who had kidnapped her little girl.

* * *

_Review, review, review and make my day :)_


	19. Chapter 19

_Here, I promised you I'd update faster this time. So this is me keeping my promise :) And this is by far the longest chapter in this story thus far. The dedication for this chappy goes to purplemonkeyz48 for cheering me up with her amazing review when I most needed it._

* * *

Ziva went to sit on the other side of the simple table once she was inside the room. She looked Sean straight into the eye, noticing how he had paled a little since Gibbs spoke to him.

"Do you know who I am?" she asked, her tone even.

He nodded.

She let an almost unnoticeable smirk crawl its way onto her lips. "Good. Then you know what I could do to you."

He said nothing, only stared back at her. It was written on his face that he knew what she wanted to know. Also that he knew she wanted to get it out of him. And he was sure he would not give her the pleasure of actually getting the information.

"Where is Rachel?" Ziva asked in a low voice.

He smirked at her. "I already showed the other guy."

Something flashed in Ziva's eyes, making Sean flinch ever so slightly. "You lied."

Instead of cowering or defending himself he just grinned. "Yes, I did."

Ziva was furious. This man was officially annoying the hell out of her. All she wanted was to just do something rather unpleasant to him and go find her daughter. She wanted to hold her in her arms, wanted to know that everything would be okay.

She wanted to scream and yell and cry. But she couldn't do it in front of Sean. She wouldn't give him the pleasure of knowing how much he'd hurt her by taking Rach away from her.

"You'll never get your daughter back," he informed her with a malicious grin, as if he knew what she was thinking. "How sad. I must admit, she's very pretty. She looks a bit like you," he commented.

"If you touched her…" Ziva started, but she could not think of a good enough threat to add. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way," she warned, her voice cold as ice. "You will tell me either way."

She waited for the threat to sink in, but the expected reaction didn't come. He remained grinning. "Nope," he said and leaned back in the chair casually.

Ziva gritted her teeth. "I will ask you one last time. Where is Rachel?"

He leaned forward and stared straight back at her. "And I'll tell you one last time. I will not tell you."

Abruptly Ziva stood up. She took hold of her chair and dragged it into one corner. Then she did the same with the light table, thereby eliminating the last piece of safety he might've had left.

He watched her actions carefully, the grin wavering only a little.

She started circling him. "So, Sean," she started. She stopped walking when she was just behind him. She placed her hands on his shoulders. He instinctively tried to pull away from her touch, but she held him firmly in place. "What do you know about Mossad?"

Sean met her eyes in the one-way mirror. He shivered almost unnoticeably under her hands, but she registered the fact. The slight movement would've gone unnoticed had she not been touching him. It gave her pleasure to know that this brave exterior was nothing more than an exterior. A shell into which he had hidden. She only needed to break the shell and he'd tell her everything she wanted to know.

"They kill people," Sean replied.

Ziva chuckled. Why was it the first thing most people recalled when someone mentioned Mossad?

"Amongst other things," she told the man in front of her. She started circling him again, her dark eyes never once leaving his form. "In Mossad I was also taught various ways of getting to the truth. Fast."

Ziva saw something falter in Sean's eyes. He seemed to finally comprehend the situation he was facing. Yet his wish to get his revenge on Ziva kept him from spilling the beans.

"So," she started. "Where is Rachel?"

He stayed silent.

She once again placed her hands onto his shoulders. He flinched. "Tell me." No answer. "Now!"

He said nothing.

Ziva pressed a pressure point on his neck, and a sharp intake of breath on Sean's part told her it had served its purpose.

"I have never failed on an interrogation," she informed him. Then she leaned down to whisper into his ear. "I am not planning on starting now."

Her quiet, yet deadly and dangerous voice sent shivers down his spine. He knew he would not get away from her before he told her what she wanted to know, but the urge to cause her pain was too strong. He would stay silent as long as he possibly could.

"You're not allowed to use violence on me," he said, trying to keep his fear from showing.

A smile tugged at Ziva's lips, yet it was not her usual smile. This smile was cold, holding none of its usual warmth. She placed her hands on the arms of his chair and leaned closer. "No one is watching."

Ten minutes later he hadn't said a word, though he was remarkably closer to breaking than ten minutes ago.

When Ziva was making yet another circle around him, he reached out with his right hand and grabbed the handle of the knife concealed at her waist. She had left her gun into her desk drawer, but the knife was something she kept with her at all times.

She felt the weapon leave its sheath on her waist and a fraction of a second later she spun around, just in time to grab his hand before he could hit her with the knife. She pinned it down and the knife clattered onto the floor.

But he would not give up that easily. He continued to try and beat her in a hand-to-hand fight.

Ziva soon saw he was no fighter. She had him face down on the floor in about ten seconds. She twisted his arm into an unnatural position and he let out a scream. She pulled him up by that same arm, causing him even more pain, and dragged him back to the chair.

She then proceeded to get her knife from the floor. Once she had it she made her way behind him, where she placed the blade over his throat. She could see the panic flashing in his eyes from the mirror.

"Do not make me tie you to the chair," she warned. She pressed the knife onto his throat. "Now tell me, where is she?"

Sean knew he had crossed the line this time. Yet fear kept his mouth shut. He wanted to speak, but couldn't.

Ziva pressed the blade harder against his skin. It was almost drawing blood now. "Tell me where is she and I may spare your life."

On the other side of the glass Gibbs tensed. If she killed him now he would not be able to cover it up. Plus they would never find Rachel. He could see it in her eyes how much she wanted to do it. To just end his life right now, right there.

He knew what she was feeling. If Shannon and Kelly had been kidnapped, not killed, he wouldn't have hesitated to do whatever he needed to get their location out of the one who had kidnapped them.

No one had ever found out it was him who killed Pedro Hernandez, but if Ziva killed Sean, she'd go to jail. Even Gibbs wouldn't be able to stop it. Yet he trusted her enough to control herself, and he knew that if he'd burst in through that that door and drag her away from Sean he'd ruin all the progress she had made with him during the last ten minutes.

A big grin made its way across his features as Sean blurted out an address. A house next to Fort Ward Park in Alexandria.

Back in the Interrogation Room Ziva grabbed his hair with her other hand and pulled at it, so he was now staring up at her. He grunted in pain. "How do I know you are not lying?" she asked. It was a completely reasonable question. He had already lied once, why couldn't he do it twice?

"You don't," he said simply. But Ziva could see the truth in his eyes. He had given up the fight. She saw nothing but truth and genuine fear for his life in his eyes, so she let go of him. He breathed out a sigh of relief when she removed the knife from his throat and placed it back into its sheath.

"If she is not there, I will kill you," she threatened.

He shivered once. "She is there, I swear."

Ziva stepped to the door, and was just about to exit the room when a thought crossed her mind. She made her way back to Sean. When she stood right behind him she leaned in to whisper a threat into his ear. "If you ever tell anyone what happened here," she made a pause to let her words sink in, "I will find you wherever you are, and I will kill you slowly and painfully. Are we clear?"

He gulped and nodded. Ziva's breath against his skin made his blood run cold.

"Good." And with that Ziva made her way out of the room, now armed with the information of her daughter's whereabouts.

* * *

_Please review._


	20. Chapter 20

_This chapter is dedicated to my mother, who finally took time to finish reading this story. Or at least the chapters that are currently up._

_A/N: This is the second version of this chapter. I was about to post the first one when I realized it was... well, wrong. Off. Not suitable. This one seems better to me. Hope you like it too :)  
_

* * *

Rachel was curled up in a corner of a dark room. Dark covers were in front of all the windows and the little light that could make its way into the room created a lot of shadows. They seemed to be moving, and the old house was constantly making a sort of creaking sound around her.

Suddenly she heard something fall on the upper floor. She let out a panicked scream and ran to the door. It was locked. She ran to the window and tugged it open. It was above the porch, so she climbed out of it. She pulled it shut after her and ran.

She ran to the back of the house and headed towards the park just behind the old and dilapidated house. She fell onto the muddy ground when she was about halfway through the garden, thus creating mudstains on her pants and hands. But she didn't care. She was terrified and all she wanted was to get away from this house and the evil man who had brought her there.

She fell again in the park, now adding stains of grass to the mud ones too. Her light beige pants didn't look so light anymore.

She spotted an old lady sitting on a park bench, so she hid behind a tree. What is she was bad too?

She sat down at the foot of the tree and curled up into a ball. She wrapped her little arms around her knees and rested her head on them.

Soon the exhaustion took her over.

**oOoOoOoOo**

This time Gibbs' speed was even higher than it had been when they'd raced to catch the bad guy. The team couldn't help but wonder if there ever came a limit to Gibbs' speed. Probably not. It seemed like they were flying along to highway, dodging other cars as they went and trying to ignore the orchestra of blaring car horns.

Tony and Ziva were practically jumping up and down in their seats, even this speed wasn't enough for them. They wanted to bolt to their daughter at the speed of light, maybe even faster.

And even though Gibbs' driving cut the normally fifteen minute drive down to five minutes, it wasn't fast enough.

The moment Gibbs brought the car to a screeching halt in front of the house Sean had given them the address of, they bolted from the car. Gibbs and McGee were right behind them as they entered the house. The team cleared it, making sure Sean had no accomplices there, all the while searching for Rachel. She was not there.

They made their way around the house, looking into closets and everywhere where a child might hide or be hidden in, finally heading down to the basement.

Rachel was not in the house.

They all ended up in front of the house eventually. Frustration was clear on everyone's faces.

"That son of a bitch lied to you!" Tony exclaimed, his hands curling into fists. His words were directed at Ziva, though his anger was not. It was directed at Sean Thompson personally.

"He'll regret it," Gibbs promised. Then he caught sight of Ziva from the corner of his right eye. She was heading towards the back of the house. "Ziva?" he questioned, but she made no attempts to answer him. She didn't even turn to look at him.

The three men shot questioning looks at each other, then went in the same direction as she had, noticing now what had caught her attention.

There were little footprints on the ground.

Thanks to the fact that it had rained last night, and quite heavily so, the footprints were clearly visible in the dirt. And that was the direction Ziva was heading now. The rest of the team just followed her lead.

The trail of footprints led out of the small garden and into the park that was just behind the house. The muddy prints continued on the stone path in the park. Ziva squatted down and touched one footprint. The mud was still fresh, having yet to dry.

"Rachel!" Ziva yelled. "Rachel!"

The team spread out to search for her, for they knew she had to be somewhere close by. They all hurried away in different directions, occasionally calling out Rach's name.

Tony had walked for about two or three hundred yards when he spotted a small figure curled up by a big old tree. Her beige pants, light green blouse and dark curls were painfully familiar.

He ran to the little girl and knelt down beside her. He checked her breathing. Yup, definitely alive. She appeared to be sleeping, but it worried Tony that she didn't wake up when he gently scooped her up in his arms. Tears trickled from his eyes as he looked at the peaceful face of his daughter. Tears of love and happiness over finding her, over having her back safely in his arms.

"Found her," he called out. Rachel didn't even stir in her sleep. After a few moments he noticed the others running towards him.

Ziva made it to him first, but she stopped dead in her tracks when she caught sight of Rachel's seemingly lifeless form in his arms and the tears on his cheeks.

"Is she…" she started, but found the thought too terrifying to voice it out loud.

Tony looked up from his daughter's face to his wife's. He saw fear lingering in her dark eyes.

"She's okay. Just sleeping."

Ziva let out a deep sigh of relief and hurried to his side. She looked down at her daughter's sleeping form. "Are you sure she is just sleeping?" she questioned, genuine concern clearly visible on her face.

Tony looked more closely at Rachel. "I hope so."

Ziva lowered her head and placed a tender kiss on Rach's forehead. "Rachel," she said, her voice gentle. "Wake up, tateleh. Mommy and daddy are here."

Ziva held her breath as she saw Rach's eyelids flutter at her mother's voice. She opened them sleepily and her whole face lit up when she took in her parent's smiling faces above her.

Tony put her down on her own feet and both he and Ziva engulfed her in a hug. "We missed you, darling," Tony whispered.

"I missed you too," Rachel said weakly, tears falling down her cheeks. "That man was so mean to me," she said through muffled sobs.

"Did he hurt you?" It was Gibbs. Neither Tony nor Ziva had heard him coming. They looked up at their boss. McGee was there as well. They let go of Rach so that she could get some air. She tugged at her left sleeve. Ziva reached out to help her and gently rolled the fabric up.

There was an ugly bruise on the little girl's arm. Ziva gasped quietly as she saw this. Tony gritted his teeth. "He'll pay for this," he muttered darkly under his breath.

"Did he hurt you anywhere else?" Ziva questioned softly. Rachel shook her head.

"Okay, let's get you out of here," Tony said, pulling Rachel's sleeve gently back over her arm. He stood up. Rachel reached her little arms out for him and he picked her up, smiling happily to have her back.

* * *

_As always, please review. As my very good friend said: **"Writers are like lovesick puppies. We need that sense of security that someone cares enough to review, and we need constant praise and attention. Yes, most of us are very needy when it comes to feedback." **I totally agree with her. So please, grant me that sense of security :)  
_


	21. Chapter 21

Abby sat in her lab, this time happily. She was watching some baby videos of Rachel. The current one was filmed when she had been nine months old. She had crawled on the bullpen carpet, looking adorable in her light green playsuit. It had little dinosaurs on it.

Abby watched as McGee picked Rach up from the ground and spun her around and laughed out loud when Rachel puked onto his shirt. McGee immediately put her back onto the floor and raced into the bathroom to clean himself up.

The camera shifted to show Tony and Ziva laughing. "That's my girl," Tony said, his arm casually around Ziva's waist.

Abby had filmed this herself. She had a whole shelf devoted solely to DVD's and CD's of videos and photos of Rachel. They were categorized chronologically and labeled with Rachel's age at the time.

Suddenly the picture started moving again. First it showed a close-up of Rach on the floor, going closer and closer, until it was right in front of her. She reached out with one little hand and tried to touch the camera. It was lifted away from her reach. She started to crawl in its direction and all the while the camera slid slowly away from her.

Then the camera slowed down and Rach caught it. She giggled happily as she reached out to grab it and it didn't move away. She slammed it lightly against the floor, immediately causing the adults around her to stop her. Abby gently took the camera out of her little hands and Ziva fetched one of her toys from her desk drawer.

Then the camera showed a hallway, which soon led to the men's bathroom. The door was opened, and the camera entered.

McGee was standing by one of the sinks, scrubbing his shirt. He looked up when he heard the door being opened. His expression turned to one of displeasure. It only deepened when his eyes moved to the camera in her hands.

"Abby, you know you should not be here," he reminded her.

A sound of a woman chuckling could be heard. "Oh, Timmy, Ziva does it all the time!" The voice belonged to Abby.

McGee turned back to the problem on his shirt. "Yeah, but she's… well, she's Ziva."

Abby just laughed. "Get over it, Timmy."

The picture shifted to the front of McGee, giving a full view of his shirt.

"Ooh, now that is one big stain."

Tim's voice sounded annoyed when he answered. "Yeah, Abby, I noticed."

"Don't be mad at Rach," Abby said, her tone a bit blaming. "She's only nine months old, she can't control her reflexes."

Tim chuckled darkly. "Is it a reflex to puke on me every time she sees me?" he asked.

Abby laughed. "It was only, what, second time?"

"Seventh!"

"Well, it's not _that _much!"

Abby's attention shifted from the computer screen when she heard Tony's chuckle behind her. She turned to look over her shoulder, a little afraid of what she'd find in his eyes. But she found none of the anger and maybe even hatred she had seen there when she had first told the team about Rachel's kidnapping.

"Hey, Abs," he greeted her, bringing out a Caf-POW! form behind his back. "Ta-da!"

Abby gave a slightly wan smile. "I thought you hated me."

Tony's eyes widened. "I could never hate you, Abby."

"It was my fault Rach got kidnapped." Abby still blamed herself for what had happened, probably always would, but not nearly as much as she had before finding her. She was able to live with it now.

Tony shook his head. "No, it wasn't. He would've found a way without you."

Abby's smile got a little brighter.

"I'm sorry for what I told you yesterday," Tony apologized, looking down at the floor. Then he brought his eyes up again to meet hers. "Without you sacrificing your night's sleep we might have never found her." He extended the hand holding Abby's favorite drink and she accepted it. Then she placed it onto the table and engulfed Tony in a bone-crushing hug.

"I'm so sorry, Tony."

He rubbed her back awkwardly. "It's okay, Abs."

"No it's not," she argued into his shoulder. "Don't say it's okay. It was traumatizing for Rachel."

Tony pulled her arms away from around him and shifted her so he could look her in the eye. "She would be much more traumatized if we hadn't found her so quickly," he said, his expression dead serious. "We found her thanks to you."

Abby let out a deep and long sigh. "Oh, Tony," she mumbled, wrapping her arms around him again. "Is she okay?"

"Ducky checked her out, she's well except for the bruise on her arm."

Abby could detect a certain edge in Tony's voice when he mentioned Rachel's slight injury. The thought that someone would grab his daughter's arm so hard that it left a mark infuriated him.

She pulled away, sniffling. "But, you know, emotionally?" she inquired, almost afraid of the answer.

Abby thought she saw a shadow cast over Tony's eyes, but it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.

"We hope she's okay. Ducky talked to her a little, and he's quite sure she's fine, but we'll just have to wait and see."

Abby nodded sorrowfully. "I so hope she's okay."

"Me too."

"Where is she, by the way?" Abby asked, glancing behind Tony as if she was expecting Rachel to hide there.

A small smile tugged at the corners of Tony's lips at Abby's actions. "Ziva took her home. Gibbs gave us the rest of the day off. I just came to check up on you and…" he cast his eyes at the floor. "Apologize."

"Thanks Tony," Abby said. "I'm okay." Then she suddenly grabbed Tony's shoulders and tried to push him out of the room. "Now go," she ordered. "Go be with your family. They need you more than I do."

Tony laughed and let the Goth push him out of the room. "Seeya, Abs," he said over his shoulder as he started towards the elevator, leaving Abby standing in her lab, a happy grin plastered on her face.

* * *

_Please review and make me feel loved. *tries to do puppy-face*_


	22. Chapter 22

_First of all, I am really sorry for not updating. I jut couldn't figure out how to finish this chapter. Tonight I just kinda pulled myself together and finally did it._

_**PLEASE READ THIS:** There will be one more chappy after this one, and with that I need your help. I'm planning on writing a sequel to this story, and I would really appreciate your ideas on what you'd like to see in the sequel. I'd like to put some hints into the last chapter of this story. I currently have one idea, which I've had for quite a time for now, but I'm starting to doubt if it is as good as it seemed at first. So share your ideas, everything will be welcome and appreciated :)_

_Oh, and by the way, this Saturday, 11th September, was the six month birthday of this story :)_

_And also sorry for the confusion with the last 22nd chapter. It was actually the 21st that I wanted to update, but instead of replacing it I accidentally added it again. I removed it immediately, but the alerts probably still came to you. Sorry, my mistake.  
_

_Okay, on with the story, which comes waayyy too late.  
_

* * *

Tony couldn't refrain from running up the steps. He quickened his pace, taking two, sometimes even three steps at the time. His feet pounded against the stone stairs, but he didn't even notice the sound. He made it to the second floor in no time and he continued towards their apartment, placed uncomfortably in the end of the rather long hallway.

He entered the apartment quietly, intent on surprising his girls. He opened the door and slid in, a mischievous grin on his face. He placed his keys and badge on countertop and locked his gun into the safe where Ziva's already laid.

He heard their laughter coming from the living room, so that's where he headed. The sight before him made his heart flutter happily. Everything was how it used to be. Before that horrible day that he would've preferred to erase from his mind for good.

Ziva and Rachel were sitting side to side on the floor, crayons spattered out all around them. Tony sneaked up behind them, surprised that neither of them had yet to notice him.

He squatted down behind them and wrapped his arms around them caringly. If it were possible, they both would've jumped out of their skins that very moment. Tony placed his head in between theirs to look at the picture they had taken turns drawing. He laughed at the sight of it.

There was a rather large blue and red striped… something. It reminded Tony of some insect, but a much simplified one at that. It had a huge grin on its face, making it look friendly. It had five antennas and – Tony had to stop and count – eleven legs. And each of them was different. But that was not what surprised him. Things like various amounts of unmatching legs were usual sights whenever Ziva and Rachel decided to do a codrawing. No, what did surprise him, was that there was "daddy" written in big bold letters on the creature's stomach.

"You should not do so," Ziva noted.

Tony turned his eyes away from the picture and to her face. He feigned innocence. "Why's that?" he demanded, his eyes sparkling. "It's such fun!"

Ziva laughed and placed a quick kiss on his lips. He grinned mischievously and sneaked an arm around her waist. He glanced suggestively into her eyes.

Ziva playfully spatted his arm away and nodded at Rachel who was busy adding another pair of legs to the creature. Her eyes said clearly "later", keeping Tony from launching into a full make-out session. He wiggled his eyebrows at her.

Ziva couldn't contain her laughter at the sight of Tony maniacally moving his eyebrows up and down. She punched his arm playfully and was rewarded with a shriek from Tony. He glared at her offendedly and dramatically rubbed his arm. She just gave him a fond look, enhanced by an amused glint in her eyes, and turned her eyes back to her daughter.

Rachel had proceeded to draw another strange creature, this one labeled "mommy". She was currently drawing a smaller one in between them. This one had no writings on it, but it was clear it was supposed to be her.

She finished the drawing and picked it up.

"Look, mommy," she said, holding it out to Ziva. "I finished it," she then announced proudly.

Ziva took it with a broad smile on her face. "It is beautiful, tateleh."

Rachel grinned and took the drawing out of her hands and gave it to Tony instead. He took it, acting excited. "That's one really nice picture, Rach. This is definitely going on the fridge!" he announced, holding it up to look better. "You could be an artist if you wanted!" Their fridge was covered with Rachel's best drawings. They had to take some off constantly, to make room for the new ones.

Rachel's grin got even wider, if it was even possible. She stood up and hugged Tony. "I love you, daddy," she said lovingly. She then moved over to Ziva. "I love you, mommy."

They both hugged her back. "We love you too, honey," Tony replied.

"Bedtime, Rach," Ziva suddenly announced. She picked Rachel up and carried her to her bedroom, where she helped her change into her pajamas. She tried to not grind her teeth angrily at the sight of the ugly bruise on Rachel's arm. In her opinion, it would've been fair to _break _Sean's arm for hurting her little girl. But she couldn't do that. It would've raised questions on how on Earth could a man get his arm broken while locked in a room all by himself.

Ziva suddenly felt strong arms wrap around her waist. She could feel his soft breath on her cheek as she reached over her shoulder to make a silly face to Rachel, who giggled in return. He placed a soft kiss on Ziva's cheekbone.

They both kissed Rachel good night and entered the room, leaving a small light on on Rachel's request. The dark room would've probably been scary for her after spending the night alone in a dark and unknown house.

Later, when Tony and Ziva were curled against each other in the bed, they both had time to truly feel the rush of happiness that came with getting their daughter back.

"See, I told you we would find her," Tony told her after they had parted their lips to get some air.

She smiled happily. "I guess I am going to have to trust you now."

Tony made a face of being offended. "Don't you already?" he asked sadly, pouting.

Ziva chuckled and placed a loving kiss on his forehead. "I have always trusted you, and I will always trust you."

* * *

_Tateleh - little darling (in Hebrew)_

_Please review and tell me your ideas on the sequel. I'd really appreciate them._


	23. Chapter 23

Ziva sat at her desk, her eyes resting on her little daughter, who was tugging at her father's jacket. She didn't seem to be too traumatized from the recent events. During the three days that had passed from the moment they found her in the park, there had been only one moment her behavior had been out of the ordinary.

She had woken up crying the first night she was back home. When Ziva had gone to comfort her she had sobbed something about a dark and creepy creaking house with an evil man inside it, telling mean things to her. But she didn't even remember the nightmare the following morning, so Tony and Ziva had left it at that, but watched her closely.

The next two nights she didn't have nightmares anymore. Ziva guessed she didn't quite understand the depths of what exactly had happened to her, and it was probably best to leave it like that. She had no physical wounds, other than the bruise on her arm. He had just taken her away from her parents.

"Please, daddy, I want a candy bar," Rachel pleaded and tried to pull Tony with her. The sound of her voice brought Ziva back to reality.

He let out a slight sigh. "Daddy has to work," he explained.

Rachel's face dropped. "Please," she asked with her best puppy-face.

Tony sighed again. He made the mistake of looking into her wide open brown eyes. Exactly like Ziva's, he thought. He'd never been able to resist those eyes. So, with a deep and loud sigh, he stood up and let Rach drag him to the vending machine.

Ziva smiled fondly at them as they disappeared from her sight.

Her phone rang.

She picked it up. "David," she said into the phone.

She was met with a moderately upset sounding Jenny. "Ziva, I need you to come upstairs," she said, her voice shaking.

"I will be right there," Ziva promised. She hung up and got out from behind her desk, rushing to the stairs. She hurried, almost ran up the steps to the catwalk. As she went she wondered what could be so urgent, or make Jenny sound that upset. She quickly made her way to Jenny's office, ignoring the looks she knew her teammates were sending her. Especially Gibbs. She felt his eyes boring into her back as she rushed away.

She hurried past Cynthia, who could only do as much as open her mouth to protest at her barging into Jen's office. Ziva had entered before she could say anything. The assistant raised her eyebrows in surprise when the door clicked shut. Then she shrugged and went back to what she had been doing before Ziva interrupted her.

Ziva stepped into Jenny's office. The first thing she saw was her friend standing near the conference table, a bottle of bourbon in one hand and an empty class in the other. With a deep sigh she placed both back onto the shelf where she kept her alcohol.

"What is wrong?" Ziva asked, trying her best to hide her concern.

Jenny looked at her, her green eyes almost panicky. She slumped onto the couch in the back of the room. Ziva went to sit beside her.

"I'm stupid, Ziva," she said, staring into her eyes as if begging the Israeli to help her.

"What did you do, Jenny?" she asked urgently.

Jen's eyes went wide. "I wasn't thinking. No, I was thinking, but I thought it would not be a bad thing," the redhead rattled, obviously not getting that Ziva didn't know what she was talking about. Her eyes were wide open, their focus on something only she could see.

"Jenny," Ziva said, staring into her face. "What did you do?"

She glanced at her, a miserable look adorning her features. "I slept with him, Zee."

Ziva smiled at the nickname. Jenny was the only one who called her that."Who did you sleep with?" she asked curiously, not getting why she was that upset about a simple sex.

"Jethro," she whispered.

Ziva's eyes went wide in shock. "Gibbs?" was all she could ask.

Jen nodded.

"But," Ziva started, trying her best to regain her composure. "I thought you loved him, why is it a bad thing, then?"

Jenny stared into her friend's eyes. And then it dawned on Ziva. "You did not use protection?" She couldn't believe Jenny had made such a mistake. Jenny, the one who was supposed to be the responsible one.

Jenny shook her head sadly. "I told him I was using baby pills."

"But you were not," Ziva guessed, even though she already knew the answer.

She nodded.

"Why would you do that?"

Jen took a moment before answering. "I have watched you with Rachel for four years. I've seen how happy she makes you. I wanted a child too. And he's the only one I would want it with."

"And now you are pregnant." It wasn't a question. Ziva leaned back on the couch and let out a puff of air. "Does he know?"

"No," Jenny replied quickly, seemingly afraid of telling him.

Ziva thought for a moment. "I see. But why did you call me up here?" she enquired curiously.

Jen sighed. "I need your advice, Ziva."

The Israeli waited for her friend to continue.

"Should I tell him?"

Ziva looked into her jade green eyes for a long time, her mind working overtime. Jenny stared back, afraid of either answer she might give her.

Finally Ziva nodded. "I think you should tell him."

THE END

* * *

_It's finally done. Over. End._

_It seems surreal. I've been writing this story for the last six months, and it seems weird to suddenly not write it anymore._

_I want to thank you all who read this and have stuck with me to the end. A special thanks goes to everyone who alerted and favorited. And finally, a very special thanks goes to all the people who took time to review. I love you, guys, you made me enjoy writing this story._

_I'd be delighted if you'd review this chapter too, to tell me what you think of this, and if you'd like a sequel. It would start off exactly where this ends, but would have more of Jibbs than Tiva. Though Tiva and Rachel would definitely be in there, too._

_I love you all :)  
_


End file.
